Social Media Influencer Agreements and Breach of Contract Disputes
Cranky old journalists like to make it sound like being a social media influencer is not a real job. Whether the products that influencers provide, namely videos and other content formats that promote brands, are beneficial to society is a matter of opinion, but from a legal standpoint, social media influencers are just like any other business that collaborates with other businesses. Whether you are a one-person operation or your own media empire, the financial health of your business depends on the brands you promote paying you what they promised to pay you. The best way to ensure this is with written agreements that clearly outline your obligations and those of the brand that you are promoting. If you tell your parents this after you dropped out of college to become an influencer, they might crack a joke about how social media influencers don’t know how to read, much less read the fine print, but the fact is that influencer agreements are as legally enforceable as any other business contract. A Washington DC small business lawyer can help you draft airtight influencer agreements and resolve disputes arising from them.
What Is an Influencer Agreement?
In an influencer agreement, the parties are a social media influencer and a company whose products the influencer is promoting. The influencer agrees to do a certain type of promotion for the brand, for example, wearing clothing produced by the company in five videos and mentioning this verbally in the videos and in writing in the credits. The company promises to provide a certain amount of compensation, for example, a certain amount of money per video, plus letting the influencer keep the clothing. It is similar to a business contract in which a freelancer promises to do short-term work for a company in exchange for payment. Before you sign an influencer agreement, you should review it with a lawyer and discuss how the terms of the agreement would or would not protect you if certain problems were to arise.
What to Do If a Brand Does Not Hold Up Its End of the Agreement
If you sign an influencer agreement with a company, but it does not pay you what it promised to pay, you have the right to file a breach of contract lawsuit. The best contracts include detailed provisions about what the parties should do if they are unable to meet their contractual obligations, in other words, how to modify or cancel the terms of the agreement without resorting to litigation. If you have exhausted these remedies, you can take the breach of contract dispute to court. You can win your case if you can prove that you fulfilled your contractual obligations, but the other party did not fulfill theirs, and you suffered financial losses as a result.
Let Us Help You Today
A Washington, D.C. estate planning attorney can help you draft business contracts and resolve breach of contract disputes. Contact Tobin, O’Connor & Ewing for help today.
Source:
law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2013/article-gcl/section-22-701
