Scaling businesses means exploring new possibilities, right? Your sales team might be rolling out an affiliate program, your product team might consider entering new markets, and your marketing team may be launching influencer marketing campaigns.
An influencer contract is a legal agreement between an influencer and a company that lays out the terms of their business relationship.
This kind of relationship is becoming common as more brands leverage social media to connect with new audiences. By partnering with influencers with an extensive and engaged following, brands can tap their audience and increase their visibility.
Typically, the influencer agrees to promote a brand’s products or services in exchange for compensation. In the United States, this business practice is governed by the Federal Trade Commission, which safeguards consumers against false advertising. That’s why an influencer agreement also requires the influencer to disclose any material connection they have to the brand.
Why do you need a contract for influencers?
Well, that’s because any business relationship comes with some risk. More so with an influencer who is a third party simply contracted to promote.
You need a contract for influencers because when you work with them, you want to make sure that your investment in influencer marketing is protected. Having an influencer contract can mitigate these risks for you:
The risk that influencers will not deliver on their promises due to their lack of interest in the product or poor planning.
The risk that the content influencers create will not be up to your standards.
The risk that influencers will violate the terms of your agreement, whether it’s by posting sponsored content without disclosure or using your trademarks without permission.
What should an influencer contract include?
If you’re already in the process of drafting an influencer contract, verify if these essential parts are included.
This is your influencer contract checklist:
Work description
The contract should be clear about what is expected of the influencer — the deliverables, the due for submitting them, and the frequency of posting them. The deliverables may be based on content type (e.g., blog post, Instagram photo, YouTube video), format (e.g., square, landscape, portrait), and specifications (e.g., image size, length of video).
Timeline
The contract should include a schedule of when the work started to the date it needs to be completed. It should also specify how long the brand-influencer relationship will last.
Compensation terms
The contract should specify how much the influencer will be paid and when they will receive their payment. It should also indicate whether the influencer will be paid in cash or in-kind and any benefits they will receive, like free products or access to exclusive events.
Copyright ownership
The copyright often goes to the influencer, but there are cases where the brand wants to own the copyright or have joint copyright ownership. The contract should state who has the right to use the content and how it can be used.
Confidentiality terms
Suppose confidential information will be shared with the influencer as part of their work. In that case, the contract should specify that this information must be confidential and not shared with anyone outside the agreement.
Termination terms
The contract should specify under what circumstances either party can terminate the agreement and what the consequences will be if this happens. This will help protect both parties if there is a disagreement or one fails to comply.
Influencer agreement template (free)
So now, this question needs your honest answer — would you rather start drafting your influencer agreement from scratch using MS Word? It’s not entirely rare, but it’s not recommended, either.
If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve got you covered with our free influencer contract template. This influencer contract template includes all of the essential elements of a successful agreement:
Term and campaign
Deliverables
Compensation
Publishing of posts
Other included provisions
How to use the influencer agreement template?
This influencer contract template is designed to help you create a legally binding contract with an influencer.
To use the template, simply purchase it for free and fill in the form-like document generated with your specific information like this:
Insert term and campaign
This includes the date of commencement to completion of the Influencer’s services. You can also clearly identify the campaign name here.
Define deliverables
The clause here details the complete work description, including the specific social media platforms where the influencer should post the agreed-upon content. You can also detail the sequence of the posts, the required mentions and hashtags, and even the timeframe before the company can reject the work.
Specify compensation
This provision specifies the type of compensation the influencer will receive after the completion of deliverables. The payment could be licenses or a specific amount of cash. It also sets when the influencer should receive the compensation.
Describe the publishing of posts
This is about the visibility of the posts published by Influencers — whether it reminds published during, even after, or within a specific time only.
Other included provisions
Some more influencer agreement essential parts are included:
Performance
The license of Influencer work product
Material disclosures and compliance with FTC
Notices
Miscellaneous
These clauses state the quality of performance expected from the influencer, copyright ownership, and obligation to disclose affiliation with the hiring company.
Streamlining the influencer agreement process with Avokaado
Businesses can create and manage their influencer marketing agreement by using a contract management system.
Avokaado is a solution that can streamline the entire document lifecycle process – from creating the initial draft to getting approvals and execution to post-execution management.
Let us show you how.
1. Automated drafting
Go to Avokaado’s library of automated templates. Purchase (but it’s free anyway) the influencer agreement template so it appears on your template library.
Clicking on it takes you to a questionnaire-like document where you can then enter your unique contract details. All changes are up for live preview, so it’s easy to spot any errors you might have input.
2. Easier collaboration
As the author of the document generated, you may add collaborators to help you get extra input from colleagues. You get to decide whether they’re with editing or only viewing rights, plus their queue. You can also add collaborators with a status of approvers or both approvers and signers statuses.
Don’t forget that you can also share this document with external collaborators using a public link.
3. Digital signing
There are two methods for signing your electronic contracts currently available in Avokaado — SignNow, and Dokobit.
Use SignNow, if you’re unsure if your external collaborator can use eIDAS-compliant signatures. Dokobit is also an eIDAS-compliant multinational digital signature for Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish, Polish, Icelandic, Belgian, Portuguese, and Spanish eID providers.
4. Post-signing management
Avokadoo’s dashboard is also helpful for post-signing management. It lets you track contract statuses, view deal statistics, and set reminders for critical dates. Also, the 360° view lets you see all the company’s documents, including their progress, the author, the team member/s who have access, and timestamps.
Getting your influencer agreements ready
The trend has been clear — brands are increasingly working with influencers. So it’s important to ensure you have an influencer agreement.
They’re legal documents meant to protect by clarifying the expectations and responsibilities of the brand-influencer relationship. However, drafting them isn’t too easy. A few essential elements should always be included in an influencer contract.
Work description
Timeline
Compensation terms
Copyright ownership
Confidentiality terms
Termination terms
If you’re looking for a simple, efficient solution to manage influencer marketing contracts, use a document management system like Avokaado. Our software can make contracting easier. Best of all, we have a free trial — so you can try it before you buy.
Manage all your legal operations with a single, secure, and highly customizable Operational Intelligence Platform (OIP). For in-house legal teams, the Avokaado Platform offers an advanced Contract Lifecycle Management solution, providing an excellent toolkit to automate most daily tasks, including drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and executing agreements.
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