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If your business engages an influencer to market your product or brand, you must have an agreement with the necessary terms. The past few years have seen the rise of influencers as a marketing medium. While some business owners embrace influencer marketing, others are less clear about their benefits.
This article will outline the pros and cons of engaging with influencer marketing and explore key terms within influencer agreements, so your company can determine whether influencer marketing suits your business.
What is Influencer Marketing?
Put simply, an influencer has a large social media following and can post positive comments about products and services. By engaging them, your business will obtain the attention of the influencer’s online followers. While most influencers carry out paid advertisements on Instagram, this practice is also prevalent across other forms of social media. This includes Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Rules Covering Influencer Marketing
However, aside from clarifying that the post is an advertisement (and not a standard social media post), the rules are relatively similar to other forms of marketing.
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Hiring an Influencer to Advertise for Your Business
The starting point is to research influential influencers by reviewing your preferred social media platforms for suitable individuals. Many businesses choose influencers that match their brand. For example, a make-up company will likely pick a model or actress, while a running shoe business may target athletic influencers.
In most cases, a representative of your organisation will likely reach out to the influencer by direct message or email. The opening message will open with details of your company and a desire to set up a telephone call or meeting to discuss a potential social media marketing partnership. If the fees put forward by the influencer are suitable, you may verbally agree to some terms and then aim to record them through an influencer agreement. This is the recommended route, as any future legal dispute can be complicated without any legal contract.
What Should an Influencer Agreement Contain?
As with all contracts, the length of an influencer agreement will depend on the complexity of the deal between the parties. However, most influencer agreements are likely to contain payment, exclusivity and intellectual property clauses.
These are outlined in detail below.
Payment Clause
Influencers can receive payment in various ways. Generally, influencers receive payment on:
- a fixed-fee basis, for example, agreeing to make ten posts over a ten-week period for £1,000 per time; or
- a proportionate basis, for example, receiving a core fee of £500 per post, which increases by an extra £500 for each additional 10,000 likes received. Naturally, it is wise to cap these clauses with a maximum value in case the post goes viral.
Different influencers will prefer different payment methods. Broadly speaking, the more popular the influencer, the more bargaining power they are likely to exercise.
Exclusivity Clause
Let us say that you manufacture running merchandise and want to make a deal with a running influencer. The core agreement is that you will pay them £20,000 to make six posts over a calendar month. All posts will include photos of them wearing your products.
The point of the influencer agreement is to show that the influencer prefers and recommends your company’s running gear. Therefore, it can be problematic if an influencer’s posts show them wearing a competitor’s products during the same period. For this reason, many influencer agreements restrict the influencer from posting images or posts of them interacting with rival business products for the length of the contract.
Intellectual Property (IP) Clauses
Most influencer deals involve them posting images of your products and services. However, your company owns the IP surrounding those photographs. Therefore, it is common to insert IP wording into influencer agreements to ensure your company retains control of those images when the contract is over.
Key Takeaways
Many business owners have realised the value of promotional marketing through individuals with large social media followings in recent years. However, per most commercial arrangements, your business should consider whether the typically high cost is worth it. If you engage an influencer, you should ensure your agreement contains all necessary clauses. This includes payment clauses, exclusivity clauses and clauses protecting your IP.
If you need help with contracts relating to influencers, our experienced contract lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, most agreements of this nature will include wording that ends the contract if the influencer posts offensive or illegal content (such as racist language).
Some influencers will request large fees to post advertisements on their social media feeds. This limits the number of advertisements on their feeds thereby protecting their brand value and limiting the loss of followers.
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