How to Perfect Your Influencer Contracts

Influencers have become a predominant part of digital marketing in Trinidad and Tobago. Despite its continued popularity, many local brands have relied largely on verbal communication as opposed to written contracts that can protect both parties in the partnership.

Thus, we wanted to share some of the main points all influencer contracts must have in order to be effective:

1. Content Details

While many contracts give creative control to the influencer your contract must detail the expectations of the content. The influencer knows their audience and what they like so their creative direction is needed, however, businesses must set certain parameters:

For example:

- The quantity of content expected, for example, one TikTok, one Reel or static post;

- What channels and what pages the content will be posted on? For example, will the post on Instagram be partnered in order to show up on both the influencer and the business’s page?;

- The due date for the content;

- The review and approval process;

- What is the key message of the content? For example, is it to promote a new product or can the influencer share their experience with the brand?

- The brand guidelines for influencer content. For example, many brands ask that the content is family-friendly or avoid speaking about competitors, negative comments or controversial topics.

2. Compensation

As with any contract, there must be a section that discusses the compensation and the framework around it. This includes the exact figure, the exact date of payment, the payment structure, the currency and the conditions under which the payment will be made. For example, payment criteria can state: Consultant will not be paid until the content is approved and/or posted.

This is a vital component of your contract to ensure that both parties agree on the amount paid and the conditions for those payments. This can always be a complicated process, thus, having this in the contract avoids any complications and confusion later on. Content providers should also have contract templates in the event their client does not have a template to follow. Remember our industry is relatively new and thus, these templates can improve your level of professionalism and respect provided for you and your craft.

3. Content Rights

This is often an overlooked aspect of local influencer contracts. Influencer content is not only beneficial for one form of content. It can be repurposed for other forms of content in the future. Therefore, if you want to use it for other media you must include a content rights section that details whether the content can be reused, for what time period and on what platforms. This becomes a concern when content produced is generic, does not include any time dates or has a clear indication that the content can be repurposed within the next five to ten years or more.

For example, the content rights section can list that the company can reuse the content from the partnership for a specific time period or indicate their right to use the content on their newsletter, website or any other medium of communication.

4. A Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement

This will protect any business information that the influencer will be aware of during the partnership. This could be information about your social media accounts, certain assets that will be shared, information about current and new products, the company’s marketing strategy and more.

Certain partnerships can put your brand’s personal information at risk thus this is a necessary condition of your contract.

5. Reasons for Termination

Similar to any contract, reasons for termination are a must to ensure both the brand and influencers are protected in the event that an incident or hinderance occurs. The section needs to be quite specific and you should think of multiple factors that can affect the contract.

The cancellation clause can include certain factors such as:

- Breaking the listed brand guidelines

- Sharing confidential information

- Content doesn't meet the expectations and guidelines that were communicated

- Non-performance for example, not meeting deadlines

- Force Majeure- this indemnifies both parties in the event of unpredictable events such as acts of god, natural disasters or pandemics. This clause proved to be beneficial to many owning to a cease of commercial activity during COVID-19. This clause secures both parties from any liabilities based on uncontrollable events.

What other factors do you think have to be included in all influencer contracts? Tell us in the comments or better yet be a guest contributor and respond to our article- Send us an email at info@connectivepros.com