How to Prepare Influencer Scope of Work Usage Rights
You want to know how to set out usage rights when negotiating with brands, right? If getting this bang on and you need done-for-you wording for your negotiations, quotes and influencer scope of work, today’s post has you covered.
In the previous blog post, I covered discussed how as you become more experienced in working with brands and reading campaign briefs, you’ll understand there’s an art to setting out your influencer scope of work, especially when it comes to defining your content deliverables. It’s equally important to accurately define the brand’s usage rights so that you have clarity and control over your content, legal protection, leverage and monetising opportunities.
In this post, I’ll be sharing some strategies on how to get your usage rights sorted for different bookings you might accept. For social media content, writing up a blog, stepping up to the mic for public speaking, or chatting with the media and PR folks, I’ve got you covered with some suggested wording to clarify usage rights by the brand.
The Importance of setting out Brand Usage Rights in your Influencer Scope of Work
Setting out the usage rights of brands when preparing a scope of work is crucial for influencers for several reasons:
- Clarity and Expectations: Clearly defined usage rights ensure both you and the brand understand how the content will be used. This helps in setting realistic expectations and avoiding misunderstandings.
- Control Over Content: You can maintain control over where and how your content is used. This is important for maintaining a consistent personal brand and image.
- Legal Protection: Well-defined usage rights can provide legal protection. It helps in avoiding unauthorised use of content, which could lead to disputes or legal challenges.
- Negotiating Leverage: By clearly setting out usage rights you gain leverage in negotiations. You can charge more for broader usage rights, such as allowing the brand to use the content in paid advertising campaigns versus organic re-share of content. I discuss this more in Episode 3: 50 Ways to Upsell Your Influencer Campaign (one of the most popular blogs, podcast and FREEBIES).
- Monetisation Opportunities: By specifying usage rights, you can create opportunities for additional monetisation. For instance, limited usage rights can lead to renegotiations and additional payments if the brand wants to extend the use of the content.
- Longevity of Content Use: You can negotiate the duration for which your content can be used. Limiting the time frame can prevent content from becoming overused or dated. I discuss this more in Episode 6 How to Prepare an Influencer Scope of Work.
- Exclusivity Agreements: Setting out usage rights helps in managing exclusivity agreements with other brands, ensuring that you don’t inadvertently breach campaign contracts by allowing conflicting usage of your content.
- Reputation Management: By controlling where and how your content is used, you can better manage your reputation and align with brands that reflect your values and image.
I have some notes for you before I get into specific wording for usage rights for your scope of work.
🤔 Imagine you’re writing these usage rights in relation to a brand requesting a quote from you, or you’re preparing your scope of work.
📅 You’ll hear me refer to the Term in most examples. This is the duration of the campaign and it’s very important that this is included in your quote and scope of work. Listening to Episode 6 on How to Prepare and Influencer Scope of Work or reading the blog will help you with this.
💰 There will be examples for organic, paid and usage rights. You’ll need to consider what rights you’re extending to the brand and whether you’ve priced these rights accordingly.
👀 You will also need to consider the brand brief to ensure your usage rights are properly defined. The suggested wording is a great start, but you’ll still need to make sure it covers you for the work requested by the brand, so give careful consideration to the price you’re quoting the brand and any upsell opportunities you might have before finalising your usage rights.
💁🏽 Negotiating paid and extended usage rights can be a little tricky when you’re first getting started. If you have questions or need assistance with wording your usage rights, join the MOOTS Build Your Career as a Professional Influencer Facebook Group for direct support from me.
🎧 On the podcast, I cover setting out your usage rights in greater detail. Listen in here.
Setting out Usage Rights for Social Media Posts
Organic: Non-exclusive right to organically republish, and share the content created by the Talent on its social media platforms. This right is limited to [specify duration – you could say the Term or for a maximum of 4 continuous weeks, or whatever period is appropriate] from the date of first publication by the influencer, and must include proper credit to the Talent in each instance of use.
Paid: Non-exclusive right for paid distribution to republish, and share the content created by the Talent on brand-owned and third party social media platforms. This right is limited to [specify duration – you could say the Term or for a maximum of 4 continuous weeks, or whatever period is appropriate] from the date of first publication by the Talent, and must include proper credit to the Talent in each instance of use.
Extended Usage Rights Extended Usage rights available by separate request and quote.
I recommend always including this line in your quote or scope of work as a CTA for the brand to enquire about pricing for additional usage rights.
Setting out Usage Rights for Blog Posts
Organic: License for Publication on [brand website] for 2 years after which the Talent reserves the right to request removal of content.
Includes the non-exclusive right to organically republish, and share the content created by the Talent on its social media platforms. This right is limited to [specify duration – you could say the Term or for a maximum of 4 continuous weeks, or whatever period is appropriate] from the date of first publication, and must include proper credit to the Talent in each instance of use.
This usage right varies a little as the content will be hosted on the brand’s website and you want to provide the opportunity for the brand to share this content across their social media channels.
Paid: License for Publication on [brand website] for 2 years after which the Talent reserves the right to request removal of content.
Includes the non-exclusive right to feature, reference, or quote content from the Talent’s blog posts on brand-owned and third party social media and digital platforms. This right is limited to [specify duration – you could say the Term or for 4 weeks, or whatever period is appropriate] from the date of first publication and must include proper credit to the Talent in each instance of use.
Extended Usage Rights: Extended Usage rights available by separate request and quote.
Setting out Usage Rights for Public Appearances
Organic: Allowance for 2 – 3 photo opportunities to leverage appearance at Event with media titles. Organic use of Event photos featuring the Talent on brand-owned social media channels.
This is giving the brand the opportunity to have you snapped by the paparazzi and repost the photos on their socials.
Paid: Rights for republication of Event photos featuring the Talent on brand-owned and third party social media and digital channels. This right is limited to [specify duration – you could say the Term or for a maximum of 4 continuous weeks, or whatever period is appropriate] from the date of first publication, and should include mention or credit of the Talent in each use.
Extended Usage Rights Extended Usage rights available by separate request and quote.
Setting out Usage Rights for Media Spokesperson
This type of work needs to be well-scoped to ensure you’re properly paid for your efforts. Subscribe to stay up to day for when I release a podcast episode to discuss acting as a Media Spokesperson for a brand.
Usage Rights : Non-exclusive right for the brand to use Talent content in the campaign media releases and activity. This usage is limited directly the specified campaign for the campaign Term or a maximum of [specify duration – eg for 4 continuous weeks from campaign commencement date] and must include reference to the Talent as agreed.
For instance, you might want to be referred to by your name and a title, for me I would a reference of Karan White, Agency Director at The Business Of Influence.
If you want to learn further learning about setting our your usage rights jump on over to Episode 26 Influencer Scope of Work – Setting Out Usage Rights for expanded discussion on this topic.
If you want to discuss wording for your usage rights with me and other creators, join us in the MOOTS Facebook Group. You can search Facebook Groups for MOOTS Build Your Career as a Professional Influencer.
Further Resources for How to Prepare Influencer Scope of Work Usage Rights
We’ve covered off a lot of information today! Here’s some extra resources, including the FREEBIES:
- If you want to discuss this with me and other creators, join us in the Facebook Group: MOOTS Build Your Career as a Professional Influencer
- FREEBIE: Influencer Checklist for Preparing a Scope of Work
- FREEBIE: 50 Campaign Upsells
- The Business Of Influence Podcast Ep 26: Influencer Scope of Work – Usage Rights for expanded discussion on this topic
