5 Major Mistakes to Avoid in Your Content Creator Agreement (If You Are a New Brand)
When hiring a content creator, what pitfalls should you avoid as a new (or seasoned) brand? These are the crucial mistakes to avoid in your content creator agreement as a brand.
Working with content creators for your brand's content can take your brand to the next level, but if you're anything like me, you are researching everything you need to ensure you get what you want and have all the rights to what you paid for. As a lawyer myself who drafts contracts for brands hiring content creators like you, I am giving you all the tips you need to ensure you get the best deal.
You will learn the critical mistakes to avoid in your content creator agreement, also called a social media content creator contract or digital content creator agreement.
After learning about all these crucial mistakes to avoid in your content creator agreement, you will be a pro and get what you paid for!
This post is all about the major mistakes in a content creator agreement that every brand needs to avoid.
Crucial Content Creator Agreement
Digital content creator agreement
To be clear, in this blog post, we are talking about the digital content creator agreement, so no written form content creation, like blogs. We're talking about digital visuals, like photos, videos and other media content.
Also, we are not talking about the brand sponsorship agreement or influencer contract. The content creator agreement is for hiring content creators that create content for your brand to post on your own platforms, not the creator's platform. That is the major difference between an influencer and a content creator. A content creator agreement has completely different terms, as the content is created for your own use as opposed to content created to be used by someone else who has created that content, i.e. the influencer.
Content creator contract template: the mistakes
Now that you know what a content creator agreement is, let's get to what you're here for; the major mistakes you must avoid in your content creator contract template.
1. No clear brief
If you are unclear on what you want, and maybe more importantly, the quality you expect, you will not get your money's worth. That goes for anything in business.
As for the actual content, you may have something particular in mind. Or, maybe you don't know what you want, but based on the content creator's portfolio, you think the content creator will create something great, and you may want to have the content creator let his/her/their creativity flow.
In any case, you will want to discuss this before signing a content creator agreement and, based on those discussions, create a clear outline of what the content will be of the deliverables to be created by the content creator.
Then, you want to have that clearly stated in your brief. Be as specific as possible, and at least be very clear on the following:
Visuals: What must the creator show in the photo or video? Do certain parts of the product or the service have to be shown? Like, does your brand's logo have to be visible? Or does a specific feature have to be shown? What will be the aesthetics? If your Instagram has a particular aesthetic, like a white background in every picture, you don't want this photo or video to have a red background, for example.
Script & display of words: If you want a video in which the creator speaks, then you want to specify what the content creator must say. Maybe you have a specific script with word-for-word what the content creator must say. Or, perhaps you will let the content creator use their own words, and you have some particular words/phrases that must be included, like specific product features that the creator must mention. Do subtitles have to be included? Or do certain words have to be displayed as part of the visuals too? Is there a call-to-action, and do they have to point in a direction (like downwards if there is supposed to be a link in the description box of the YouTube video?
In any case, you need to be very specific about the practical stuff in your brief, such as the following:
Which format: If it's a photo that you will use for your website, what size should it be? Is the creator creating a horizontal video in a format specific to YouTube or vertical video content for TikTok or Instagram, or both? This is crucial because if any call to action is made, the proper references need to be made (like, if a call-to-action is to follow your brand, the creator must physically point in different directions for TikTok and Instagram Reels).
Duration: If the creator is creating video content for your brand, what should the duration be of each video? For example, if it's a YouTube video, you want to specify the number of minutes, while if it's a TikTok or Reel, you're speaking of seconds.
Quality: Regarding photos and video, you want to ensure the creator delivers high quality. Ensure that the brief includes the resolution you expect, good lighting, and clear views. If it's a video and the creator is speaking in it, you want to include good sound quality and include that no background noises may be included. You don't want to receive a video with the noise of a vacuum cleaner or a dog barking in the background.
These things must be stated explicitly in your brief and included in your content creator agreement so you only pay for content that checks all the boxes.
2. No approval rights & retakes
That brings me to the next crucial mistake; not specifying your approval rights and rights to retakes.
As a brand, you always want to include that prior approval is required in order for a content piece to be considered accepted by you. If you do not have such approval rights in your content creator agreement, you will end up in a discussion with the content creator about the content being delivered and, thus, the right of the content creator to be paid.
Another major mistake is not including the right to receive retakes at no extra cost if the content does not check all the boxes of your brief. You do not want the creator to suddenly ask for more money because you requested a retake. After all, the content delivered does not even conform with what you agreed.
This is also why being very specific in your brief is so important. You want to manage expectations and set boundaries, so there is no room for discussion.
3. No timeline for EVERY single step
Speaking of managing expectations, you want to specify the timeline for every step of the process in your content creator agreement.
Specify exactly:
by which date the creator must deliver the first draft of each content piece;
specify within how many days after the date of delivery you will either approve or provide feedback (and allow yourself enough time, don't be too ambitious);
if you do not approve the draft but require edits or retakes, the number of days after the feedback, the next draft must be delivered.
The steps mentioned above should be repeated for each draft until approved.
Another mistake I have witnessed is that no consequences are specified in the content creator agreement if the deadlines are missed. If the creator misses the deadlines, is the agreed remuneration for the creator depreciated by a percentage?
You, as the brand, may want to specify that the delivered content may not be considered accepted if you miss a deadline and, thus, be obligated to pay.
4. No clear pricing and what the price covers
Speaking of payments, the next mistake you want to avoid is no or unclear terms on the pricing and what the price covers.
As the brand, a fixed price will be preferable to you. However, depending on the creator and the creator's experience, the creator may ask for variable pricing based on your use. If you want to use the content for advertising, the creator may only want to give you usage rights, which means you will pay a variable price based on the time you use the content. Ensure you have that price included in your content creator agreement too.
To learn more about usage rights, read this blog post on the 7 Key Terms Every Content Creator Contract Must Have for Content Creators and Brands.
You want to specify what the price is for exactly. As the brand, you want the coverage to be as broad as possible. As the brand, you will likely want to pay for full ownership of all intellectual property rights to the content, so you can do whatever you want with it. However, that often comes with a higher price tag (unless the content creator is not that experienced and does not ask for a higher price in case of the transfer of full ownership). If you are given a license instead, you may want to cover as many (social media) platforms as possible for a fixed price and maybe even advertising. Often, brands will push for a fixed price for use on any platform and for whatever purpose for as long as they want (in perpetuity). Again, it depends on the content creator's experience, whether that will come with a higher price tag, and whether you are willing to pay for that.
You probably won't use the content pieces forever, so think about what exactly you will and might use them for and the price you want to pay. You could always start by offering a fixed fee for complete ownership and see what the content creator will accept or what the creator's counter-offer will be. More seasoned content creators will have a price list for the transfer of full ownership, licenses, and usage rights.
Again, if you want to learn more about intellectual property rights, read this blog post on the 7 Key Terms Every Content Creator Contract Must Have for Content Creators and Brands.
5. No specific payment terms
In the content creator agreement, you want to specify when the creator will receive each payment. Will the creator be paid before or after the delivery of the content? If multiple pieces of content are agreed upon, will the creator be paid before or after each piece of content is accepted or only after you have accepted all pieces? How many days after the delivery will the creator be paid? If you pay for usage rights, how many days before or after a usage period will you have to pay for those usage rights?
Then, you want to specify what payment method will be used, i.e. how each payment is made. The payment method is often not specified but is actually a big deal when dealing with the costs of the payment method or dealing with a content creator in a different country. The costs of payment methods will differ, and you want to specify who carries those costs as well, just so there will be no discussions on that either (as the costs can be pretty high). Also, keep in mind that if you are an American brand, for example, many banks in the EU do not accept checks.
Another major mistake would be not to have specified the consequences when the content creator agreement is terminated prematurely, i.e. when not all content has been delivered or accepted.
As the brand, you do not want to pay for content that has not been delivered, but the creator may have already invested time in creating the content or provided drafts. The content creator will want to be compensated for that. So, you need to have specified that either the content creator does not get paid at all or only on a pro-rata basis, based on the content that is accepted.
These were only five major mistakes in a content creator agreement, but there are more. Want to learn more about what needs to be included in your content creator contract template? Then read this blog post on the 7 Key Terms Every Content Creator Contract Must Have for Content Creators and Brands.
Freelance content creator contract template
If you want to ensure you avoid the five crucial mistakes I just discussed, then you need my content creator agreement! My content creator contract template can be used as any other freelance content creator contract template for the creation of photos, videos or other media (not written) content, such as:
a YouTube content creator agreement;
a digital content creator agreement; or
a social media content creator contract.
This freelance content creator contract template includes alternatives and explanations for each essential clause. That way, when drafting your content creator agreement, you know which one suits your deal best (and you avoid making those mistakes).
You can find the freelance content creator contract template on this page.
Content creator agreement pdf
Some (more seasoned) content creators will send you a content creator agreement pdf instead of a (Word) version, instead, so you can't change the clauses.
The content creator agreement pdf will likely not include all the essential terms I discussed in this blog post. New brands use my content creator agreement to compare it with the content creator agreement pdf they receive and include what is missing so they don't make the crucial mistakes I just discussed. Always ask for the Word version and include or amend what is necessary to clarify your relationship and expectations.
With my content creator agreement, you'll be a negotiating pro, so you don't make any of those critical mistakes!
This post was all about the critical mistakes every brand must avoid in their content creator agreement.
Want to know about all the essential legal elements you need in your content creator agreement? Then read this blog post on the 7 Key Terms Every Content Creator Contract Must Have for Content Creators and Brands.
You can get the Content Creator Contract Template (which includes all the key terms you need for your agreement to avoid the mistakes we just discussed) here!
Are you asking someone to use their existing photo or video content? Then you need the Media Release Agreement, which you can get here!
If you are paying an influencer to promote your brand on their platform, you must get the Brand Sponsorship agreement here!
