6 Best Practices for Influencer Marketing Agreement

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Now that you have found a powerful influencer who understands your products and is willing to promote your brand, it is time to get your contract in place. Before you proceed on to planning your new marketing campaign, you will have to get an influencer collaboration agreement first.

Not all brands are the same. So are the brand-influencer contracts. Even though they serve the same purpose, they vary in format, depending on the terms and conditions on both sides. A well-crafted agreement will protect both the brand and influencer from any mishaps or misunderstandings that may take place during the campaign period.

An influencer collaboration agreement with the brand should lay out all the expectations and limitations of the partnership, including the roles and responsibilities of both parties. By agreeing to the terms and conditions of the contract, both the parties (Brand and influencer) will be cementing the nature of the relationship.

Albeit every contract is different, there will be certain common information that always plays a vital role in marketing agreements. So here are a few sections to add to the influencer collaboration agreement.

Identifying the parties

This one seems obvious but it is the first essential element when it comes to a contract or agreement. The agreement should clearly mention the name of the influencer as well as the brand or the person who is representing the brand. Both campaign start date and expiration date should be mentioned in the contract.

List of deliverables

The next on the list is deliverables. A list of deliverables usually consists of what the influencer is going to create for the brand and share with the audience. For instance:

–> What type of content does the brand want the influencer to create?

–> How much content is the brand expecting the influencer to create in a week/month, including blogs, reviews, Instagram stories, etc.

–> Specific guidelines for hashtags, and tone or writing style to match the brand aesthetic.

Delivery deadline

Posting the content on social time at the right time is just as important as creating the right content for the brand. Wondering why? Cause posting at the right time generates excitement and creates interest in the audience. Which brand doesn’t want its influencer partnership to be buzz-worthy? So ensure to research well when the best times are to post content on various social media platforms. Mention these times in the partnership agreement so that both the brand and influencer are on the same page.

Outline your goals and metrics

This section is another critical part of the agreement process. Under this section, the brand should specifically mention the overall goals that they intend to achieve via this partnership. This kind of information will help the influencers in curating specific content that will help the brand with those very specific goals they wanted to achieve in the first place. Some objectives include improving site traffic, reaching out to more audiences, product promotion, etc.

Compensation and other perks

Regardless of how big or how small the brand is, the company has to communicate how much compensation they are willing to pay for the influencer’s work. Not every brand compensates its influencers with paychecks. Some of them compensate with products or discounts on their products. Nonetheless, it’s up to the influencer to negotiate with the brand if they have a specific amount in mind.

Apart from compensation, time and frequency of payments are also equally important. The contract should have an exact time as to when the influencer will get the payment or compensation for the work he or she did.

As a brand, if you don’t how much you should offer, you can always ask the influencer for their rates and media kit. Influencers outline their prices and provide you other critical information with their media kits.

Mention FTC guidelines

When it comes to brand-influencer collaboration agreements, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has put various requirements in place that the influencers are expected to follow when they share sponsored content on social media. Now, these guidelines are different for each country, depending on the legal obligations of that country. For instance, European countries should look into GDPR guidelines as well.

As sponsored content, the brand should clearly mention what FTC guidelines are needed to be followed by the influencer in the contract. Most of the time, the influencer should disclose in their content #ad or #sponsored.

Summing up

As influencer marketing is getting more and more popular day by day, both parties should understand the significance of a contract. Just to ensure the brand and the influencer are on the same page with goals, requirements, deadlines, etc., it is good to have an elaborated contract agreement that has all the essential information for a successful marketing campaign.

Even if your goals or requirements change in the future before the expiration of the current contract, you can always get a new contract made or edit parts in the existing agreement.