The days of being paid per post appear to be ending with it now becoming more common for influencers to be tied into long-term marketing contracts with brands.
That’s according to Digiday, which says that a growing number of companies are not only increasing their influencer budgets but also bringing influencer marketing activity in-house, with influencers effectively becoming employed marketing partners.
Indeed, influencer contracts themselves are starting to more closely resemble contracts for TV ads, with the language defining granular details such as post length, agreement duration, exclusivity rights, confidentiality agreements and content type. They will now commonly afford the brand the rights to use an influencer’s likeness for other advertising, too.
Contracts can last between six months and a year in length and can even go as far as including morality clauses. Sometimes contracts even allow brands to retain image rights in the event of death.
Crossing the line
Such agreements are even seeping into the world of micro-influencers, while the prevailing trend also sees brands shifting their focus to video – a medium that has now apparently overtaken the value of the written influencer market.
There are even some instances with brands partnering up with platforms directly, an example being Procter & Gamble’s deal with micro-influencer platform Peersway, which in turn then recruits its influencers. The brand partner then pays per post.
While it’s no surprise to see brands wanting more control, there is surely a risk about whether an influencer who is effectively a paid employee can hope to retain the freedom and independence they need to maintain the sort of relationship with followers that such companies are hoping to capitalise on.
However, larger questions about the influencer bubble are also starting to loom.
New research by Fullscreen and Shareablee has revealed that only 38 per cent of Gen Z and millennials trust influencers in the digital space.
According to Fullscreen, 54 per cent of the 18 to 24 demographic is more likely to trust an influencer's content, where only 36.5 per cent of 25 to 34 age bracket are likely to.
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