Create high quality UGC - Try Showcase for free
Think of an influencer agreement as a marriage license; it might seem reductive, but you need to outline the terms of your contract.
Your spiritual ceremony in Bali won’t count for much when or if you’re trying to settle alimony.
It’s the same with any influencer marketing campaign.
Your influencer agreement contract should be as thorough as possible. You want to cover all factors and issues regarding your business relationship. As with any such relationship, you don’t want to omit anything or leave matters unclear.
You will find a ready-to-use influencer contract template at the end of this article.
But first:
TL;DR - Influencer Contract Template
- An influencer agreement is crucial, much like a marriage license, for outlining terms.
- Influencer contracts define the legal relationship between a brand and a social media influencer.
- It's essential for legal enforceability.
- Details from content type to payment terms and other specifics are covered.
Why have an influencer contract?
- Legal Reasons: Provides supporting documents for business relationships and protects against disputes.
- Practical Reasons: Helps in coordination, ensures responsibilities, timelines, and quality standards are met.
Key Components of an Influencer Contract:
- Nondisclosure/Confidentiality Clauses: Protects company secrets and sensitive data.
- Compensation: Details about payment structures, forms, and legal obligations.
- Campaign Schedule: Covers timelines, milestones, posting frequency, etc.
- Campaign Guidelines: Outlines brand tone, style, and language for influencers.
- Influencer Guidelines: Specifies what should remain consistent about the influencer's image.
- Consumer Privacy Law: Ensures compliance with data privacy.
- Campaign Deliverables: Lists out expected content from the influencer.
- Brand Exclusivity: Prevents influencers from promoting competitors.
- Content Rights: Clarifies who owns the content rights.
- Reasons for Termination: Defines grounds for contract cancellation.
Tip: Make the contract as clear as possible to cover both parties' obligations and rights.
Final Note: For launching a successful campaign, finding the right influencers is crucial. A solid influencer marketing agency can assist in this process.
What Is an Influencer Contract?
An influencer contract is just what the name suggests; the legal agreement between you and the social media influencer you want to collaborate with.
That’s why you need a thorough influencer contract template, to begin with.
And by thorough, we mean legally enforceable.
Remember that every little detail outlining your relationship will be included here, from the type of content to payment terms, product seeding, dates & times, plus litigation-related provisions.
Why Do You Need an Influencer Contract?
The main reason why you need a social media influencer agreement is that you are operating a business. And, just like with any aspect of that business, you need to make things legal to protect both yourself and the influencer you’re working with it.
Legal entities such as financial institutions, audit companies, judges, or law-enforcement agencies cannot rely on informal agreements. Apart from that, have a look at the other contract templates for other purposes.
So, we can think of two main categories of reasons why you need this agreement:
Legal Reasons
If push comes to shove, you need supporting documents for any business relationship your company conducts. Even if you are a construction company, you need supporting documents, including contracts, invoices, and other information which you keep in your construction document management software or physical records, to ensure transparency and protect your interests in case of disputes or legal issues.
In addition to this, consider employing a Receipt Maker tool for keeping track of receipts. This further enhances financial transparency and accountability within your company.
And we are not just talking about a situation when content creators go berserk or refuse to meet their obligations, like the Snap Spectacles conundrum.
You must also justify your sending specific products or gifts to influencers. Your local equivalent of the IRS will not care about informal agreements when they ask you to explain your expenses.
Remember: You cannot have influencer marketing costs without a legal binding agreement.
Practical Reasons
As with any aspect of your business, you want everyone to coordinate with each other as best as possible. You need people to know their responsibilities, timeline, and quality standards.
You also want to streamline communication between departments, vertically and horizontally.
With all the creative freedom in the world, influencers still need to collaborate with your marketing department. A social media influencer contract helps you do that.
What Should Be Included in a Contract with an Influencer?
Your influencer contract template should include the following issues:
- The rates
- The brief
- The scope of work
Here’s a more detailed breakdown below:
1. Nondisclosure/Confidentiality Clauses
You will likely share valuable info with your influencers during your campaign. At the very least, you’ll disclose some social media login information, which is where MFA might come in handy. But you could go further and discuss very sensitive insights with these people.
So, if you don’t want your company secrets to get out, you need a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). This type of agreement states what the influencer can talk about in terms of your cooperation with them. You can save yourself from sensitive data getting breached this way.
Also – be very precise about factors that can affect this NDA. Your influencer is probably working from home or using their computer at a café. If that happens, you must enforce a clean-desk/ clean-screen policy to ensure nobody nearby can see what’s on their screens.
2. Compensation
Be very specific about payment details in your influencer campaign, such as:
- Flat charges
- Affiliate commissions
- Cost per action (click, comment, post, etc.)
- Product seeding
- Additional payments, such as rewards and bonus incentives
Remember: Influencers work as independent contractors, so you need them to give your:
- 1099 form
- Independent contractor agreement
Depending on where you and your influencer are located, you’ll have different legal obligations and frameworks to follow.
3. Campaign Schedule
This part of your influencer marketing agreement is one of the standard contract clauses that ensures that your campaign goes as planned. Include the following:
- Timeline and time period
- Milestones for all content pieces
- Dates at which your influencer posts
- How these messages are disseminated (social media platforms, visual support, etc.)
- The posting frequency during your contract
4. Campaign Guidelines
This point covers brand image-related issues. Sometimes, your influencers may not understand your intentions precisely, and other times, they believe that a more natural tone or an excess of honesty will benefit your campaign.
And while you should give your influencer enough flexibility to ensure unique content, you should also impose strict guidelines.
Dealing with your influencers is like parenting: you have to set kind but firm limits for your kids – and brand ambassadors – to reach their fullest potential.
So, define precisely your campaign’s:
- Tone
- Style
- Language
Just make sure your influencer doesn’t post your editor’s comments like Scott Disick and Naomi Campbell did.
Pro tip: Review more brand ambassador program examples to learn which mistakes to avoid.
5. Influencer Guidelines
You chose a specific influencer because their image fits your brand; as such, they shouldn’t change it during your campaign. If they do, they can completely mess with your audience’s trust in your product.
So, for the sake of authenticity and consistency, outline how your influencer is supposed to keep that same image, for instance, maintain the same:
- Weight
- Hair color
- Interests
- Product preferences
- People they spend time with
6. Consumer Privacy Law
If your influencers are using affiliate links to promote your products, you want to ensure they do so safely because, in some cases, they’ll deal with your customers’ private info. Therefore, they’re liable for prosecution if they don’t keep your consumer data privacy.
Remember: Ensure your influencer agreement contract explains all compliance standards regarding data privacy, including adherence to a CCPA compliance checklist, to uphold the highest standards of customer data protection and legal compliance.
7. Campaign Deliverables
This point in the influencer agreement contract details all the things that your influencer will deliver to you:
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Photos
- Reviews
- A combination of all of the above
8. Brand Exclusivity
You don’t want your influencers to promote both your products and the competition’s. So, include an exclusivity clause in your agreement for a reasonable period during and after your campaign.
9. Content Rights
Once that influencer gives you their content, you should have all the intellectual property rights to it. Make sure that’s written in black on white in your contract.
It’s what Freya Lingerie does.
As well as Deux Par Deux Kids, one of the brands inBeat has proudly worked with:
Here’s the advantage:
Even if your contract ends, you can repurpose influencer content anytime during other campaigns. Your influencers should understand what you can do with their content:
- Display
- Distribute
- Edit
- Publish
- Repost
- Reproduce
- Share
10. Reasons for Termination
Contract termination isn’t something you’re looking forward to, but you need to plan for it. It’s basically like a funeral. Or, for some people, a wedding.
Include specific cancellation clauses (e.g., natural disasters) and what you and your influencer will do in that case.
INFLUENCER CONTRACT TEMPLATE
Influencer Information
Name: First Name Last Name
- Phone Number
- Address
- Street Address
- Street Address Line 2
- City State / Province
- Postal / Zip Code
Social Media Accounts
- YouTube
Company Information
- Contact Name: First Name Last Name
- Company Name
- Address
- Street Address
- Street Address Line 2
- City State / Province
- Postal / Zip Code
Campaign Information
- Start Date Date
- End Date
- Date
- Total Payment ($)
- Payment Method
- Who will own the copyright of the media (image or video) uploaded
Advertiser / Influencer
- Is approval needed for the content created?
Needed/ Not needed
Terms and Conditions
- INTRODUCTION
This contract is between the __________ (hereinafter known as Influencer) and the _________ (hereinafter known as Advertiser).
- ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The advertiser and the influencer acknowledge the terms of this Contract and will comply.
- TERMS
This contract starts on __________ and ends on __________.
- PAYMENT FEES
- The total payment is $__________.
- Payment is made by __________.
- The payment is made at ___________.
- CONTENT REQUIREMENTS
- The influencer should create original content, which is ______ (e.g., funny, honest, and factual).
- The advertiser’s approval is ___needed/ not needed_______ before uploading the content.
- The influencer should share the approved content on the following social media channels: ___________.
- The advertiser can demand the influencer to add ___________ (e.g., hashtags, links, photos, etc.).
- The content should comply with the terms and conditions of the platform it’s posted on.
- The content should not contain __________ (e.g., any vulgar language, particular references, etc.).
- COPYRIGHT
The ___influencer/advertiser______ will own the copyright of all the created content during this campaign. Both parties may share this content on their respective platforms.
- CONFIDENTIALITY
This contract is strictly confidential, and only authorized persons are allowed to review it. The information shared by the advertiser to the influencer SUCH AS BUT NOT LIMITED TO any login information, company details, and possible conversations are also confidential.
The influencer should keep any documents pertaining to the company and this campaign away from other people.
AMENDMENT
This contract can only be changed or modified through the written consent of both parties (Advertiser and Influencer).
- GOVERNING LAW
This contract shall be governed under the laws of __________ (State/Country).
How Do I Know What to Include in My Influencer Contract?
The influencer contract template includes most of the issues to include, though you may think of other liability issues depending on your industry. The point is to cover both parties’ obligations and rights as clearly as possible.
Before you do anything, you’ll need help finding the right influencers to start your campaigns - and we can help. Sign up for InBeat today to find influencers that can move the needle and provide the results your business needs.