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When I think of Frank Sinatra's "My Way," I see a connection to the main ideas behind intellectual property law. "My Way" embodies personal expression and an individual's journey through life, which parallels the concept of the ideas-expressions dichotomy in copyright law. It echoes the principle that music, literature, or art can be copyrighted while allowing others to explore the same ideas without infringing upon that particular expression. Sinatra's anthem also celebrates uniqueness, which is reflected in the definitions of all of the varying types of intellectual property.

The Purpose of This Blog

The articles on this blog are all written, reviewed, and edited by me, Mr Peter Adediran, the Digital Media and Intellectual Property Solicitor at PAIL Solicitors. They are intended to empower the new generation of business executives, professionals, business owners and creatives who want to keep up with intellectual property, digital media and entertainment law in the digital age. Most importantly, empower the community of creatives who want to create works "their way". In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, staying informed and increasing knowledge in specialised legal services is crucial for e-commerce and digital technology businesses. At PAIL® Solicitors, we understand the unique challenges start-ups, business owners, professionals, business executives, creatives, writers and talent face in protecting their intellectual property and navigating legal complexities. By reading this blog and engaging us as your legal representatives you can safeguard yours and your company's reputations, make informed financial decisions, and confidently expand into new markets by focusing on continuous learning and expertise in these areas.

This blog contains articles on the following themes:

  • Advice on Protecting Digital Content

Encouragement to Stay Informed and Protected

For creatives and businesses alike, staying informed about legal issues surrounding intellectual property is critical. Knowledge is a powerful tool for safeguarding one’s work from infringement or misuse. We encourage individuals to engage with our resources, participate in discussions, and keep abreast of developments in IP law. 

Ten tips for social media influencer agreements

 

Ten tips for social media influencer agreements

Modern society has moved away from face to face interactions to a social media culture. As the social trend continues to grow exponentially, the role of social media in promoting brands becomes even more crucial.

Therefore, the part of advertising, PR, and marketing becomes critical in social media culture. That importance is in the value placed on social media influencers whose favour can be the difference between success or failure. Bloggers, vloggers and social media influencers are hugely influential in the social media world.

Please focus on the right influencer that fits the vision of your campaign, not the size of their following. It is far easier to get what you want from a less high profile influencer.

According to the, we are social report, 45% of the world’s population actively use social media, that’s 3.484 billion people. Social media influencers, therefore, have a massive influence over the buying decisions of their followers and hold great commercial value as a result.

So before engaging influencers, you should think about these ten tips.
 
1. Content
The content that is produced by the influencer must be subject to change. If the influencer should create original content that is unacceptable, you should have the mechanism in the contract to change. Make sure you can request to add your links; and hashtags. The influencer hashtags must be reviewable.

2. Size
Influencers can come with several million or a few hundred thousand followers. Please focus on the right influencer that fits the vision of your campaign, not the size of their following. It is far easier to get what you want from a less high profile influencer.

3. Relationships
Spend time with the influencer in which you will invest. It would help if you got to know the influencer so you can get an idea of suitability.

4. Budget
Be ready to pay real money for your business. Don’t use your friends as models or have your photoshoots at the local park. You need to get professional web designers, real models, and photos taken by professionals. Get proper legal and accounting advice from professional accountants and lawyers. You will get the return on your investment for an influencer campaign when everything goes without a hitch whether you are an existing business launching a new brand product or a new business. Influencers will create that buzz around your brand, products or services. The professionals will help you sleep well at night.

5. Age
Make sure your influencer is old enough to enter into a legal agreement. If an influencer is a child, then they need to sign through their guardian. Ensure that you are not breaking any laws for the protection of children.

6. Brand Values Ensure that the influencer signs up to your brand values and does not dilute or damage your brand unwittingly.
 
7. Parties
The typical influencer agreement is between the influencer and the marketing/PR/advertising agency representing the client. It sets out the contractual terms of the campaign while the content and other work to be delivered are in schedules that are attached to the main contract.

8. Social Media Platforms
The contract should contain social media platforms used for the campaign, such as Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest/Facebook/YouTube.

Detailed mechanisms of acceptable use of social media accounts should be clarified.
 
9. Fees 
The influencer fee structure can be complicated, based on incentives and bonuses. Influencer fees can vary between $1 to $1million a post.

10. Content Ownership 
The contract needs to control who owns the intellectual property to the uploaded media. There is also the data generated by the campaign.

You need to consider the GDPR aspects of the influencer campaign and address that in the contract.

There are several different ways of dealing with copyright content produced for the campaign. The most common is to own the content but give a license to the influencer to share the content.

Closing comment
The above are some of the essential issues to address in an influencer agreement. The critical thing to understand is that the more about the intellectual property you know, the more control and profit you will make.

Please contact our firm for advice on any digital marketing related contracts – including influencer; collaboration; sponsorship; social media management; intellectual property rights management.

Disclaimer Notice

This article provides a high-level view of what issues to address in influencer agreements. It is non-exhaustive, and if you are seeking advice on a marketing campaign and have read this article, you must take the opportunity to go and seek professional legal advice from a solicitor or barrister. The information and any commentary on the law contained on this web site are provided free of charge for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort is made to make the information and commentary accurate and up to date, but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by PAIL® Solicitors. The information and commentary do not, and are not intended to, amount to legal advice to any person on a specific case or matter. You are strongly advised to obtain specific, personal advice from a lawyer about your case or matter and not to rely on the information or comments on this site. No responsibility is accepted for the content or accuracy of linked sites.

Get Legal Advice

To obtain a quotation, please contact us at (020) 7305-7491 or at peter@pailsolicitors.co.uk. We would be delighted to assist you. Mr Peter Adediran is the owner and principal solicitor at PAIL® Solicitors. Subscribe to our newsletter to get blog post updates and other information about the firm straight to your inbox.

Meet The Team: Peter Adediran; Maya El Husseini; Gabrielle Felix; Poppy Harston

Disclaimer

We provide cases and statutes as general information because contracts should be flexible to adapt to legal changes. Our articles on media and IP agreements serve as starting points for readers to brainstorm ideas. They are not a substitute for professional legal advice. Each contract is unique; even good templates need adaptations for specific situations. One party typically presents a contract based on industry standards and in-house policies. Replacing the contract may be difficult, but you can negotiate important clauses and agree on amendments.