Did you know that the influencer market is a multi-BILLION dollar industry?! 🤯
It’s crazy to think that what started as people just sharing their life on Instagram with a few affiliate links here and there has grown into actual careers for SO many.
In fact, this study conducted by Influencity reported that of the 103.7 million Instagram users, about 10.2 million of those can be considered influencers.
“This means that 9.8% of all Instagram profiles in the United States have the potential to sway the purchasing decisions and behavior of their audience.”
These stats may not come as a shock to you because I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all been ✨ influenced ✨ by our favorite Instagram accounts a time or two.
Overtime, businesses and brands have caught on to the fact that influencer marketing WORKS (the stats speak for themselves) and many spend more on this type of marketing than any other form.
The reason the influencer model works so well is because consumers naturally feel more connected to another human. If they like the person they’re following, they’ll be more apt to buy the product they’re promoting.
Through working with influencers, many businesses and brands have found that their marketing dollars are well spent with this industry and typically experience more reach, new and different content that grabs the attention of their target audience, and of course more sales.
While influencer marketing is a GREAT thing, like all aspects of business, there’s a few legal agreements that must be in place – both from the influencer side and the business/brand side.
Much like that of selling goods online, many people tend to think that this process is plain, simple and straightforward and often overlook the nitty gritty details of what it really takes to make this whole thing legit.
From an influencer perspective, it may seem like all you need to do to get started in this industry is grow your audience, promote products and pitch yourself to brands. Simple enough, right?!
Well if it were that simple, everyone would be doing it. You see, all of that work means next to nothing if you don’t have a legally binding contract in place when you land your first deal.
Without proper contracts in place, you can do a whole lot of work that can quickly backfire.
And I’m not just talking to influencers here!
If you’re reading this as a business or brand hoping to implement influencer marketing, you need these things in place too BEFORE you start reaching out to influencers for partnerships.
A well-written agreement is just as much for you as it is for them. It’s meant to protect all parties involved by covering the details and logistics of the partnership, including the promotional schedule, campaign goals, compensation and more.
These contracts establish the terms of an influencer’s participation in a company’s promotional campaign so both parties know exactly what to expect every step of the way.
As a business or brand working with influencers, you want to make sure that you eliminate all misunderstanding by very clearly spelling out the expectations and agreement, including:
- What to include in campaign posts/content
- What style of content is required (Ex. 1 Instagram post, 1 Instagram story, etc.)
- When payment will be issued
- What the influencer can or cannot do
Those are just a few general things to include, but as a lawyer that’s personally written a few brand and influencer agreements, I’ve determined there are 6 main things you need to make sure are covered in your contract – and oftentimes, there are a few of these things that people easily miss!
6 Things To Include In Your Brand Influencer Agreement
- Code of Conduct
This section will outline specific conduct standards an influencer is expected to follow during the duration of the campaign. This would cover things like the influencer’s use of offensive language, behavioral standards, use of inflated engagement tools on socials and more.
By including this clause in your brand influencer agreement, you are setting the expectation for the partnership so that your brand standards can be withheld through the content that an influencer creates.
- Endorsement Disclosures
This section will require a brand influencer to comply with both the social platform’s paid partnership disclosure rules and the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Guidelines Concerning Endorsements and Testimonials.
Typically, it falls on the influencer to make sure they know and understand the law behind these disclosure requirements and isn’t up to you as a business or brand to teach these guidelines.
- Statement of Work
This section will outline everything concerning the partnership’s deliverables including the posting schedule, length that content should remain on the influencer’s page and whether posts and content require pre-approval by the business or brand.
Additionally, this section will often be where other details are defined, such as payment and compensation, travel expenses and campaign tracking.
- Communication
This section will lay out who the influencer’s main point of contact is at the business or brand and the best method of reaching them for questions or approval requests.
This is a super common piece of information that is missed and if you fail to include this section, you run the risk of miscommunication and potential delays in delivery simply because the influencer didn’t understand what was expected of them.
If you have a specific process that you prefer for influencers to follow, this is where those details need to be defined.
- Intellectual Property Ownership and Usage
This is a very important clause that will lay out whether the influencer or the company owns the intellectual property and content that the influencer creates during the partnership.
It should also cover whether either party can continue to use the content when the contract has expired.
If you fail to include these details in your Brand Influencer Agreement, you run the risk of the content being misused in the future.
- Partnership Exclusivity Clause
Lastly, this is a clause in the contract that will specify whether the influencer can enter into any other agreements or partnerships with other brands or competitors during the duration of the agreement.
Many brands and businesses understandably don’t want the influencers they’ve partnered with to promote products of a similar kind, so this exclusivity clause is the very thing that can protect against that.
This clause would also lay out the damages owed should the influencer violate this part of the contract.
Without ALL of these details being clearly defined and both parties agreeing to the terms, you risk being taken advantage of, less than quality of work being delivered, timelines not being met and overall dissatisfaction with those you partner with for campaigns.
Implementing influencer marketing can be a great move for your business, but it can easily turn into a massive headache if the legal side of things aren’t taken care of first.
With the ever growing world of influencer marketing, I’ve taken what I know from doing this work one on one and created a super simple Brand Influencer Agreement contract template that you can implement with ease!
I never want the confusing parts of business to hold you back from making big moves, which is why I’m all about helping you take the easy approach.
This 11 page, instant access contract includes 27 clauses (including the 6 I described above) written without “legalese” so both parties can understand what they’re actually signing.
It’s an easy-to-use fill in the blank template that you can edit to match the specific details for YOUR brand and business – click here to grab yours!
And if you’re an influencer needing a contract for a collaboration with a company, grab our Brand Influencer Agreement for Influencers.