What is an influencer agreement?
An influencer contract template is a legally binding document between a contracted influencer and a business or person. An influencer contract covers all of the details for a specific campaign or an ongoing service of work.
This contract covers both parties, their rights, obligations, terms of service, and more. Typically, an influencer contract template will be tweaked for each influencer and business agreement that comes.
Note: Sign-up now for free to start creating your free influencer marketing contract. It has all the basic elements you’ll need to create a watertight, legally binding agreement.
Why do you need an influencer contract agreement?
An influencer contract agreement is vital for both the influencer and the business to manage expectations, obligations, and to work together harmoniously. The legal documentation of the agreement puts everyone at ease.
Influencer marketing is predicted to grow to $13.8 billion in 2021, and 90% of businesses believe influencer marketing is effective. With Instagram, YouTube, and recently TikTok taking the lead as the most popular channels for influencer marketing.
With this drastic growth in influencer marketing, it’s critical you start all working relationships with a contract. Your influencer collaboration is no longer a nice-to-have for a business, it’s a must-have. This means businesses have a budget, workflow, and KPIs for their partnership. Seal the deal from the get-go with a contract, and create the professional working relationship you deserve.
No matter your niche, businesses are looking to include influencer marketing as a branch of their content marketing strategy if they're serious about growth. It’s predicted that brands will spend $15 billion on Influencer marketing by 2022—be it social media influencers or other types.
Working with influencers today—like with any other marketing contract agreement—needs to be supported with a customized legal document.
What should be included in an influencer marketing contract?
There are a few things that every influencer contract template needs to include. Of course, your template will need to adapt for each unique business and influencer relationship. Your contract may also change for the same brand, depending on the influencer marketing campaign you take on.
Let's cover the basics that both parties involved need to document.
Detailed descriptions of the work and content requirements
Your social media influencer contract should kick things off with the scope of work and content requirements expected from both parties. A roadmap of the workflow is good here, so both parties can agree on the content to be created and the approval process for the influencer's content.
This clear work description avoids scope creep for the influencer and ensures all parties are on the same page.
Social media platforms and posting frequency
Your influencer marketing agreement should outline the influencer's social media channels the campaign wants to utilize. It should also highlight any of the brand's channels that will support the campaign.
This part of the legally binding contract should also outline how often both parties will post, on which channels, and in what format. For example, posting an Instagram story three times a day is very different from three Instagram feed posts for your audience.
Social media influencer agreement and exclusivity
Exclusivity is really important if you're working with many brands. Often influencers charge more if the brand wants an exclusivity clause in the influencer contract.
The advertiser and influencer need to agree on exclusivity, as well as how long this exclusivity lasts.
For example, there's a high chance you won't want to promise exclusivity for life. However, for the campaign’s duration and a small amount of time afterward is usually common in influencer marketing agreements.
Exclusivity is important for these reasons:
- You have no conflict of interest
- Potential customers don’t see competing brands
- You maintain a healthy business relationship with the brand throughout the campaign and beyond
Payment details
Your influencer contract needs to cover all areas of the payment details. It's critical for managing expectations and maintaining a positive working relationship with businesses. The payment details to include are:
- Terms of pay: per hour, per project, or post
- Payment schedule: how and when you can expect payment
- Total pay: how much, in total, the brand will pay the influencer
- Payment details: any information you need for your social media invoice
Timeline of the campaign
Your social media influencer contract or influencer contract should cover all details around the timeline of the influencer campaign. This section should include the timeline of campaign events and the behind-the-scenes run-up period to the campaign. For example, the content creation and approval process period.
Lastly, your timeline should also include the reporting period after the live dates of the campaign. Ensure you give yourself enough time to get full traction on content posts.
Requirements and delays
Every social media influencer contract should include what the client expects. This will typically be the number of posts, the channels you're posting on, and any key dates for posting.
This section of the contract should also include the repercussions of delays or if requirements are not met.
Your contract does not need to be a representation of your work or content. It’s a business document, so don’t worry about attaching bells and whistles. Take a look at our contract template below for an idea of the layout and presentation.
Liabilities and social media rights
Influencer marketing has changed a lot over recent years. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) now requires influencers to openly disclose if they are receiving payment to promote a brand or not.
The US governing law now states that if an influencer fails to disclose this information, both parties can face penalties, fines, and legal action.
This section of your influencer contract is also a good moment to highlight a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) if your agreement needs one.
Cancellation clause and termination of the contract
Every influencer contract needs a cancellation clause, as is the case with any legal contract. An influencer agreement can be canceled for many reasons, which should all be outlined in this section.
A few reasons for canceling an influencer agreement are:
- The brand or influencer fails to meet the requirements
- The influencer agreement is potentially damaging to the brand or vice versa
- Either party maliciously breaks the contract
- Exceptional (personal) circumstances which stop you from completing the terms of the contract
Remember, influencer contracts are there to support both parties.
Other factors
Influencer marketing may require your agreement to cover a few more areas to ensure its success.
Your influencer contract should include any access to tools like Google Analytics or the brand’s social media reporting tools, liability for responsiveness, and any free or reduced products or services the brand is providing as part of the agreement.
That's everything you need to know to create an influencer marketing contract that covers both parties’ best interests.
Sample influencer contract template
We've put together an influencer contract template that you can download for free and adapt to your needs.
This influencer contract covers the legal language you need to ensure it holds up in court—should you need it to. Plus, it will help you establish a healthy business relationship with every brand you work with.
What is the benefit of using Bonsai, instead of editing a template yourself?
The Bonsai influencer contract is legally vetted, meaning if either party needs to pursue legal action, they'll be able to do so with an abiding agreement.
Plus, the influencer marketing agreement here has done the heavy lifting for you, all you need to do is fill in the gaps with your specific account and campaign details. Whether you're a social media influencer or another type —this will work for you.
How to create a simple influencer agreement with Bonsai
Simple, either download this template and use our auto-fill feature to fill in the blanks for you. Or, create your template from scratch and use Bonsai to ensure it’s legally binding for your agreement.
Influencer contract FAQs
How much do influencers charge per post?
Influencer costs per post depend massively on their following, the time it takes to create the content, the type of post, and the brand they are working with. Influencers can charge anything from $100 per post to $1,015,000 per post (Dwayne Johnson—the most expensive influencer on Instagram).
How many followers do you need to be an influencer?
There are different tiers of social media influencers, depending on their amount of followers. Essentially, anyone can be an influencer on social media if they're creating content and influencing people around a particular niche. Followers range from 0-10k: Nano influencers, all the way through to 1M+: Mega Macro influencers.
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