Creating and Managing Influencer Contracts: A Guide for Brands

Influencer marketing has become a cornerstone of modern digital marketing strategies, with 80% of companies creating room in their budgets for partnership marketing. Influencer marketing is highly flexible and scalable and often yields substantial returns on investment in exchange for generally low start-up costs—making it a “win-win” in the eyes of many marketing departments. 

As advantageous as the business partnership sounds, it’s important to treat it as such. Read on to learn more about influencer marketing agreements, along with a few common mistakes brands make when developing a contract for influencer services. 

Why Influencer Contracts Are Essential

Influencer contracts are a good idea for several reasons, most of which can be boiled down to this: A contract protects your brand and your publishing partner. A well-designed, clearly defined contract can shield you from potential liabilities. But it can also contribute to a healthy, positive and long-lasting relationship with your influencer partner by clearly defining terms, conditions and expectations for both parties. 

Key Elements to Consider When Developing Effective Influencer Contracts

Take a look at some of the most important elements to consider when developing an effective influencer marketing contract.

1. Defined Scope of Work and Deliverables

When mapping your influencer contract, include a defined influencer collaboration scope of work and expected deliverables. Even when partnering with an experienced influencer, explaining the specifics of your campaign and the content involved ensures you’re satisfied with the results. It also launches the campaign from a mutually agreed-upon space, setting you and your publishing partner up for a smooth onboarding process and success down the road.

Work with your legal department or influencer marketing management team to determine if the following details are relevant to your influencer contract. 

• The length of your campaign: Are you planning a one-off promotion or a long-term publishing relationship? Include start and end dates in the terms of your agreement to ensure you and your influencer partner are on the same page when it comes to content planning.

• Timelines and milestones: Establish milestones to measure your influencer partner’s progress, deadlines for content previews and fixed publishing dates. 

• The type of content you expect: Work with your team and your influencer partner to define the type of content you expect them to deliver, such as photos, videos, Reels, TikToks or long-form blog content. Be specific; these deliverables define your influencer collaboration scope of work.

• Content preview and approval processes: How and when will you review and approve content? Include specific dates and terms for revisions.

• Social media management expectations: Will your team or your influencer partner take the lead in responding to comments and engagement on social media? Determine the best option for your campaign, and include responsibilities in the agreement.

2. Payment Terms and Conditions

Next, consider the terms and conditions of your agreement. In this portion of the contract, map out the details of your campaign. These may include the following. 

• Payment methods: Did you and your partner agree on a commission-based model or an upfront payment structure? If working with an international influencer, note what currency you’ll pay them with as well.

• Reporting expectations: Establish a communication and reporting schedule to ensure both parties are updated.

• Performance metrics: Metrics can vary depending on the influencer’s platform and the scope of your campaign. Regardless, include explicit key performance indicators (KPIs) you’ll track against to measure performance:

• Exclusivity agreements: Influencers often work with multiple brands—including competitors. Outline how long your publishing partner will exclusively promote your products before partnering with any defined competitors. 

• Contract termination terms: Include conditions for ending the agreement early, including potential obligations or penalties. 

• Consumer privacy laws and disclosures: Clearly outline expectations for handling consumer data and following privacy regulations relevant to your industry and market. In addition, include specific language around disclosures, such as instructing your influencer partner to clearly include “#ad” or “#sponsored” in their captions.

3. Influencer Collaboration Expectations

Finally, consider including verbiage to define and clarify expectations around your campaign. For instance, you may consider the following details.

• Content ownership and repurposing rights: Ensure the contract spells out who owns the content (you or your influencer partner) and who may repurpose it during and after the conclusion of your campaign. 

• Creative control over the campaign: Define which party has creative control throughout the length of your campaign to reduce the risk of misunderstandings and disagreements. 

Additional clauses: Finally, ensure your publishing partner understands any clauses, such as non-disclosures or morality clauses. A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) prevents the influencer from sharing any of your brand’s information. A morality clause enables you to sever the agreement if the influencer behaves in any way that could damage your brand’s reputation.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Influencer Contracts

Now that you’re aware of some of the details, clauses and terms often found in influencer contracts, here are a few common mistakes to avoid when developing your agreements.

• Making verbal agreements: An informal agreement may sound pleasant, but it could leave you and your publishing partner open to miscommunication, confusion or disappointment in the future—not to mention legal trouble. 

• Failing to define exclusivity: Establish ground rules for non-competing content throughout your campaign. 

• Not defining metrics: Outline KPIs, even if they’re as informal as driving traffic to your site or increasing conversions by an unspecified amount.
• Failing to protect your brand legally: Ensure there are clear terms that outline responsibilities and liabilities to help mitigate potential risks and disputes. 

Turn to Acceleration Partners for Reliable Influencer Marketing Management

Our team at Acceleration Partners understands just how many details go into an effective influencer marketing campaign. From selecting the best influencer for your campaign to defining goals, establishing campaign guidelines and drawing up agreements that suit your partner’s needs while aligning with your business objectives, the list goes on. Many of our clients feel as if there aren’t enough hours in the day to manage business as usual on top of successful influencer marketing campaigns.

Fortunately, our leading influencer services agency can help. We bring decades of combined experience, a vetted, international pool of publishing partners and the knowledge and strategies needed to launch and manage successful campaigns that lead to actual conversions and higher returns on investment. Count on us for full-service influencer marketing services, including influencer contract negotiation management.

Ready to get started? Contact us today to see how Acceleration Partners can help your brand.