Influencer Agreements: What You Need to Know

Influencer marketing is a modern social media marketing strategy that is gaining in popularity among various companies. This type of marketing uses endorsements and product mentions from influencers to recommend a certain product to their dedicated following – a brand’s potential customers.

Social media influencers and celebrity influencers have built trust with their followers and are viewed as experts in their industry. Like with any partnership, companies should have an influencer contract or written agreement in place that outlines the relationship terms between the influencer and the brand.

For example, the influencer marketing agreement may detail that the influencer is to provide three Instagram posts and five stories by a certain date. In exchange, the company will provide monetary compensation or product(s) of a certain value to the social media influencer.

The agreement will also include the call to action required of the influencer such as linking to the brand’s product in their bio and/or tagging the brand in their posts and stories. These details should be clearly explained in writing and agreed to with signatures by both parties.

A contract between an influencer and brand is to protect both parties and ensure obligations are met. A partnership between a social media influencer and a brand can be a successful one as long as roles and expectations are defined. Additionally, a legal contract can help ensure the campaign meets the requirements of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which is the governing body that protects consumers from deceptive advertising and unfair business practices. To adhere to FTC regulations, influencer marketing campaigns should be clearly labeled as branded content and sponsored content by the influencer.

Having a legal document outlining the scope of work, compensation, and timeline that is agreed to and signed by both parties is always recommended when entering into a business partnership of any kind. Since an influencer contract is a less-traditional form of business agreement, documenting these expectations also helps ensure the influencer follows through on the work they agreed to. An influencer agreement stands to protect both parties, and professional influencers and brands will be familiar with them and expect a signed contract before work is started on the campaign.  

Influencer agreements should be tailored to each marketing campaign, but each will include certain aspects such as:

• What type of content is needed? Photos, video, stories, etc. Determine the format and how many pieces of content will be shared. Include if there are any specific hashtags to be used or a certain aesthetic.
• Who has creative control over the campaign? Is the brand providing images and copy or is this left to the influencer?
• What is the length of the campaign? This should include a campaign schedule as well as any exclusivity period that refrains the influencer from working with competing brands. 
• Payment details. How and when will the influencer be paid for their work? If working with an international influencer, determine which currency will be used. 
• Ownership of work. Who declares ownership of the work, copyrights, and licenses?
• Who will preview and approve of the content prior to posting?
  Who will handle comments and engagement on the campaign’s posts? Certain comments may threaten a brand’s or an influencer’s reputation. The agreement should disclose who handles this PR.
• Standard contract clauses. Such as names, dates, deliverables, descriptions of the work, cancellation clauses, an NDA to protect company information, and influencer terms and conditions.

The digitization of contract management is revolutionizing how agreements are created and monitored. If working with multiple influencers, it may be beneficial for a brand to create training videos and brand guidelines for every influencer to review, and then develop monitoring programs within the company to ensure expectations are being upheld.

Influencer agreements are a new type of contract, unlike those that legal teams are used to seeing. Ironclad’s Workflow Designer saves time by allowing a contract to be easily created and then duplicated and updated with specific project details. Ironclad partnered with L’Oreal to create a digital contracting platform for their influencers that has helped accelerate their brand ambassador marketing.

Madeline Chambers, Senior Manager, Talent and Influencers and Maybelline says Ironclad has allowed their brand to scale their influencer program by creating an efficient, easy-to-use platform. “We can go out and brief an influencer on an opportunity, and if they’re interested, I can have a contract in their hand that day,” she said. 

If adopting influencer marketing as a strategy, brands can expect to build a catalog of influencers with whom they partner on campaigns. Managing multiple influencer agreements specific to each campaign can pose challenges and delay work as legal documents are drawn up and moved through the review and approval process. In today’s market, you have to have the ability to listen and react quickly.

Legal teams and businesses can easily become bogged down by the details of influencer agreements. Ironclad allows you to customize workflows and create unique contracts without having to start from scratch every time. Automating and standardizing influencer agreements creates a faster and more efficient process that is vital to a company’s bottom line and protects the brand from possible risk. 

Standardizing contracts for influencers streamlines the legal process for both brands and influencers, and allows agreements to be more easily managed. Including necessary information and minimizing legal jargon allows influencers and their agents to easily navigate and understand. Tools such as Ironclad’s Workflow Designer has a straightforward drag-and-drop user interface that allows users to build and launch contracts in minutes.

To save even more time, existing documents can be duplicated and adjusted with the new necessary information. Automating documents and storing agreements in a repository with process metrics and metadata reporting allows for effective monitoring of influencer campaigns.

Influencer marketing can be an effective tool for many companies. Understanding expectations and defining the requirements of each party through influencer agreements is a safe and effective way to protect both parties’ interests, and help set the stage for a successful marketing campaign. Sign up for a consultation here to learn how Ironclad can help you manage your influencer agreements pipeline.