When Does an Agent No Longer Have Access to Influencer Data? | Data of Influencers
How long does a manager have access to influencer data after the relationship ends? When you are an influencer and if you establish a relationship with a manager, an agent, or a marketing agency, it’s all kind of grouped into the same thing. It’s somebody who is attempting to go out, get deals for you, bring them back, negotiate, that type of thing. At some point, you will, or at least you should sign a management contract with that individual, and then it will list how the contract can be terminated. At some point, if you’re unhappy with the manager, or the agent, and you decide to move on, you’ll have to give them notice per the agreement.
Access to an Influencers’ Data
Usually, it’s somewhere between 30 to 90 days. And then at the end of that notice period, the relationship ends, the influencer is free to go find new management, and then the manager moves on as well. Now, that doesn’t mean that the relationship is completely over with. Almost every management contract is going to have clause that states, for a period after the contract is terminated, the manager will still receive a percentage of commission based upon any deals that they brought to the influencer. Think of it this way: let’s say you’re unhappy with your manager, you terminate the contract, and the contract ends. Well, the contract is going to stay. Let’s just say you have a sponsorship with a meal planning company. The meal planning company wants to continue the relationship, so that moves forward. However, because that manager brought you that deal, the contract is going to stay, usually, for about a year after the contract ends. You will owe them the percentage of calculated commission to your past manager for that one-year period.
Let’s just say they were receiving 20% of whatever the fee was from the meal planning company. You would still have to pay the manager that 20% for a year after the contract ends. Now, managers do this for a couple of reasons. First, they don’t want to bring a huge deal to an influencer, the influencer signs the deal, cuts ties to the manager, and then avoids having to pay the commission percentage to the manager. If you think of it that way, from the perspective of the manager, that would be bad, right? Like, they would feel taken advantage of if they brought someone a deal and then was cut out of it, and then the influencer didn’t have to pay any commission back to the manager. Now, there are deals that are structured based on views. Other topics of interest include:
- What is Exclusive Management of an Influencer?
- Is there a Non-Compete in an Influencer Management Contract?
Usually, an influencer will give the manager full access to their platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. And so, the manager will know exactly what the data is from the influencer. What’s the reach, the interactions, the views, the duration, all that kind of stuff. Once that relationship ends, the influencer is going to cut off the manager from viewing that data. Now, here’s the tricky part: if there was a clause in the contract that states, you still must pay them for a year after the contract ends, and the contract with the meal planning company is based purely upon views or maybe the duration of the views in YouTube or whatever it is, that manager is going to want access to that data to make certain that they’re being paid correctly.
Social Media Marketing Compensation
And it’s very difficult to limit someone’s access to that data just to one specific video or a series of videos. You essentially can’t do it that way. So, there must be agreement that states either the social media provider will just copy and paste the data to the old manager so that they know they’re getting the correct data or some kind of third party that will go in, view the data and then forward it onto the manager. Most influencers absolutely do not want an old manager to have access to their numbers, obviously. I mean, the relationship ended poorly most likely. And so, the last thing you want to do is have that person still have access to all your data moving forward. This is something that I find most influencers and managers completely miss, and don’t even think about when they sign a contract. But there has to be some kind of idea of if a deal is in place that’s based purely upon the metrics, how is that data going to be shared after the contract is terminated?
I mean, that’s something that absolutely can be worked into a management contract. But it’s also something that I find nearly very few of the managers, agents, and influencers think about prior to signing the actual contract.
Do Social Media Influencers Need Agents?
Does a social media influencer need an agent? What does an agent do for an influencer? They can do a lot. Now, can they do it well? I guess that’s an open question. The role of an agent is to do two things: one, find sponsorship opportunities for the influencer and bring them to them, and then two, negotiate the terms of the contract, the payment, the frequency, and how much the influencer must do. And then they act as a shield between the sponsors and the influencer. There are plenty of influencers who are more than capable of doing this on their own. However, I’m not necessarily sure that’s the smartest business strategy.
You can’t do everything as an influencer. If you are creating content, coming up with ideas, negotiating with the sponsors, going out and finding your own deals, you are not going to have enough time in the day to really do and focus on what you’re good at. An agent can take a huge burden away from an influencer by, as I said before, being that shield and then handling all the details of that relationship. Now, the downside of working with an agent, well, obviously you’re giving up a percentage of whatever you’re making from the sponsors. Any agent is going to get a percentage of your commission from the sponsor’s compensation. Normally, that’s around 20%. So, you’re giving up essentially 20% of your income to this agent. Now, you also must think on the other side of that, alright, well, this agent should be providing more than the 20% that you’re paying them in potential opportunities.
How to Get Influencer Marketing Campaign Assistance
Every good agent, manager, marketing agency, whatever you want to call it, has established relationships with brands, and then their job is to push their people to those brands so that they see them as an asset and will use them in their influencer role. So, a good agent should be well worth the 20% by, one, bringing many more opportunities to the influencer than they would have if they would’ve been doing it on their own. And then two, negotiating the compensation. I find that many influencers are just starting out and maybe they’re building their brand and doing a great job of providing great content and gaining followers and that type of thing.
They just don’t know what their worth is. And so, if someone does reach out to them and they decide to do it on their own, they have no idea if they’re being paid fairly or well underpaid. Whereas a good agent is going to tell you, you are worth this exact amount based on your metrics. The average view duration on YouTube is important and the audience, the age of the audience, and how many people are watching that are subs versus not. There are a ton of metrics that go into what makes an influencer worth it to partner with the sponsor. And then all of the metrics, the sponsors are going to want to see, and the agent should be great at facilitating the correct compensation for the influencer.
An Agent Can Provide Influencer Marketing Strategy
Now, before you enter any relationship with an agent, a marketing agency, manager, or whatever you want to call it, you absolutely need a contract that dictates the terms of that relationship. I have found, especially influencers who are using like a friend who’s like, oh, I know how to do this. And they just go about it with a handshake which is a terrible way of doing business. As an influencer, and you are going to make money as an influencer, you are a professional, you need to act like a professional, meaning, you need to have contracts in place with all of the people that are working for you. And that contract needs to absolutely dictate the terms of the agreement such as how much you’re paying them, what they’re doing for you, exactly how long the contract lasts, how it can be terminated, what happens if there’s a dispute, all of those things need to go into the contract because if those things are not in a contract with an agent and they do pop up, that’s where litigation, legal disputes, whatever you want to call it, can happen.
So, does an influencer need an agent? No, not necessarily, however, if they’re good, they will be worth their weight in gold to the influencer. I can promise you that. Now, I find there are a lot of charlatans in this arena, meaning, people that hold themselves out as having all of this experience and have all these connections. So, you need to absolutely do your due diligence when finding an agency or an agent or a manager, who else have they represented in the past. Reach out to those people and just ask them, what was their relationship like? Are they still working together? Is there a reason why they ended their relationship? If somebody can’t provide you with anyone that they’ve worked with, or you’re the very first client, you need to think again about doing that.
I mean, think of it this way: I graduated from law school 20 years ago. And when someone talks to me about their contract, I can say, yes, I have 20 years of experience doing this. And these are all the things that I’ve done. Whereas, if someone is just out of law school and just passed the bar, would I want to use someone who’s been a lawyer for one week versus 20 years? Now, I’m not saying they have to have 20 years of experience, they absolutely do not. But putting your career in the hands of someone who has no experience is just a bad business strategy. So, anyway if you have any questions about a potential influencer management/agency contract, feel free to call my law firm.
Breaking an Influencer Management Contract
Can you break an influencer management contract? One thing that I find kind of gets confused is when someone considers breaking a contract, meaning, breaching it, or just simply terminating a contract, and let’s go over the difference between the two. If you’ve signed a management contract with an agency or a manager, there will be clause in that contract that states how the influencer can terminate the agreement, meaning, end it. And for the most part, there’s four ways that you can terminate a contract. If it’s for a fixed period and it doesn’t renew, let’s just say it’s a year, either party wants to renew, the contract ends, it’s terminated and that’s it.
You could terminate it by mutual agreement. At any point, even if there are clauses in the contract that state a certain amount of notice that must be given, you can just say, you know what, it’s not working out. Let’s just move on. If both parties agree, then you can move on. The third way is for cause termination, meaning, one party has breached the contract. Let’s just say you’re an influencer, your management company continues to pay you slowly, or they’re not paying you the correct amount, you’d send them written notice they’re in breach of a contract. Then normally, they’d have time to fix that breach, called a cure. And then if they haven’t fixed the breach at the end of that cure period, you could terminate the agreement immediately.
And then the last way to terminate a contract and the most common way is without cause termination. And that just means either party can terminate the agreement at any time, for any reason, with a certain amount of notice to the other party. Somewhere between 30 to 120 days is kind of a standard amount of notice in a management contract. If you are the influencer, the shorter amount of time, the better. I mean, if you decided to end your relationship with a manager, you don’t want to work with them anymore, the longer that you’re forced to work with them, or kind of sitting there waiting to find a new manager is not great. So, you want to keep that as short as possible. There are a couple of things that can also happen after you terminate the contract. Once again, breaking a contract also just means terminating the agreement. There will usually be a provision in almost any exclusive management contract that states the influencer will have to pay whatever the agreed-upon percentage of commission after the contract is terminated for a period, usually, one year with any brand that the management company has brought the influencer. Let’s just say the influencers brought a deal with the skincare company, from the management company, they agreed to it, they’ve been working with them for years.
Well, even if you terminate the contract with the management company, that doesn’t mean you have to stop paying them the percentage with that skincare brand. You would have to continue paying, let’s just say it’s 20% for the entire year after the contract ends, because they brought you that deal. I mean, the management company, the biggest fear of them is they bring an influencer deal, it’s a great deal. And then the influencer terminates the agreement, leaves, and then doesn’t have to pay any commission to the management company. That’s standard as well. Now, what happens if you sign a management agreement with a company and then you don’t want to go forward with it? That’s where I would consider breaking the management contract. Well, you still have to follow through with the notice provision.
So, if you sign the agreement, and you don’t want to move forward, you still have to give them notice. Now, obviously, you’re not forced to accept any sponsorship opportunities by somebody. If they were to say, hey, we have all these deals that we want to bring you. But if you’ve already given them notice that you’re going to leave, you don’t have to take them. But there may be language in there that states you can’t contract with any other management company until after that notice period is ended and the contract is officially terminated. That’s what I would think of breaking a contract. I do a lot of work with physicians and so physicians all the time will sign a contract and decide not to go through with the job. And then there’s a whole discussion of, alright, well, what are the repercussions here?
It’s a little simpler for an influencer because for the most part, not a lot of time, money, or resources have been expended if they’ve signed the agreement but haven’t even started working yet. Whereas with other professions, sometimes there’s licensure, you have to go through credentialing and insurance and all that kind of stuff. Anyway, that’s how you would break an influencer management contract.
Influencer Contract Terms
Parties will clearly discuss the kind of content the influencer will produce for the brand ahead of time. Both sides of this transaction need to get together to determine what type of content they will put out and how that content will correspond with the brand’s overall strategy. The influencer management contract will contain a few terms within this aspect of the contract that includes:
- Exclusive Management Clause – A social media influencer manager will likely want to have a clause written into the contract that they offer their talent that dictates that they are to be the sole manager of that talent. This is done to ensure the content put out by the talent follows what both parties have previously agreed to.
- Length of Access to Data – Managers need access to influencer data to decide who to hire and how long. However, that data connection needs to be revoked after a while when the performer no longer works directly with the manager they originally signed up with.
- Non-Compete Clause – There is likely to be a clause within the contract that requires the influencer not to produce endorsed content for any other brand that directly competes with the brand currently signing them up.
- Commission – The manager will likely put in information about how much commission they expect to get for helping the talent find endorsement deals in the first place.
- Termination – There should be specific information about how an influencer can terminate the contract they have set up. This will make it easier for them to end an agreement not actively serving their purposes.
These are just a few aspects of influencer management contract terms. There are many more aspects of these contracts to consider as well.
What is an Influencer Management Contract? | Influencer Management Agreements Explained
What is a social media influencer management contract? As an influencer begins to grow, at some point, they will likely want to bring in a manager, agent, or marketing agency, all kinds of the same thing. Essentially, somebody will go out and try to find your sponsorships so that you can get paid for your cloud. You will absolutely want/need to sign a social media influencer management contract outlining the responsibilities between the parties. For example, you want to know how long the contract lasts, the terms of the agreement, and how parties can terminate the agreement. So, do you have to give notice? Is it a fixed term?
Social Media Influencer Agreement Terms
Does it renew automatically at the end of the initial term? How to terminate the influencer contract is certainly important. Obviously, what the manager/agent is going to do for you? Are they going to go out and reach for every type of marketing opportunity for you? Is it an exclusive management contract, meaning you must use them and can’t use anyone else? Who are you going to communicate with? How much are you going to pay them?
For the most part, influencer management contracts will have a commission percentage, meaning your manager will bring deals back to you, and then you’ll determine if you want to move forward or not. And then you’ll pay a percentage of that whole deal back to the manager. 20% is an industry standard. It can be more or less, but 20% is an industry norm as far as how much percentage of commission is paid back to your manager.
Influencer Expectations When Working With a Manager
What the expectations are of the influencer as well. Things such as, how often do you have to check in with your manager? Is there a software program that needs to be used to track the contacts with anyone else? If you go out and find a deal outside your manager, do you still have to bring it back to that manager so they can negotiate the deal? Do they get a percentage of deals you consummate that have nothing to do with the manager? For the most part, if you have an exclusive management contract, even if a deal falls out of the air, into your lap, and the manager has nothing to do with it, they’re going to require a percentage of that deal if they’re managing you. It may not feel great, but that’s just part of having an agent or a manager.
It Doesn’t End Once the Agreement Ends
Also, what are the obligations once contracts end? As I stated before, you’ll pay the agent/manager a percentage of whatever the commission is for the deals they bring you. Almost every agreement will have language stating, after the influencer contract ends for a period, any deal that they’ve got you that continues after the agreement ends, a percentage will still go back to them.
Let’s say you’re in fitness, and you’ve had a deal with a protein shake maker. If the manager brought you that deal, and you terminate the agreement, you’ll still have to pay them, let’s say, 20% for a year after the contract ends. Managers do that because they don’t want to bring an influencer deal. Then, the influencer immediately terminates the relationship, takes the deal, and gets out of having to pay the commission percentage back to the manager.
What Should an Influencer Agency Contract Include? | Agency Influencer Agreement
What should a contract between agents and influencers include? What needs to be in that influencer agency management contract? Before establishing any working relationship with an agent, a manager, an agency, whoever it is. An influencer contract that dictates the relationship’s terms needs to be in place. It should also contain the length of the agreement, how to terminate it, the agent’s and influencer’s responsibilities, what happens if there are a dispute, and examples of contract breach. Then obviously, the payment structure between the influencer and the agent.
Percentage Commission for Influencers
Typically, it would be a percentage of whatever the agent brings to the influencer. 20% is an average. Some of the most important terms in the influencer contract will also include what happens after the it terminates. Almost any agent will require some language in the agreement that states the influencer will have to pay the agent. Even after the contract terminates for a period, for any deals that the agent brought the influencer. Let’s say you are an athlete, and you have a sponsorship opportunity with maybe an apparel company. If the agent got you that deal, and even if the apparel company wants to continue the relationship, the athlete will usually have to pay 20% back to their agent for a year. That’s because agents don’t want to bring an influencer deal, then they terminate the relationship and get out of having to pay the commission to the agent.
Obviously, I would consider that reasonable and fair. Now, if the percentage is extended indefinitely, meaning the agent says, if I brought you this deal, you owe me 20% forever, that’s not reasonable. And that’s not something I would sign if I were an influencer. There must be a cutoff date, and you could even tear down the percentage over time. But that’s one thing that will likely be in the agreement. And that usually is negotiated.
Influencer Management Contract Questions?
Contract Review, Termination Issues, and more!
