13 Must-Have Disclaimers for Your Social Media Management Agreement
Are you a social media manager? Make sure your social media management agreement includes these essential disclaimers to avoid losing all your money and protect your time and energy.
Earning an income as a full-time social media manager is the ultimate dream, but if you’re anything like me, you don’t want to run the risk of losing it all because of unrealistic expectations from your clients! As a lawyer myself who drafts contracts for social media managers like you, I am giving you all the essential disclaimers you must include in your social media management agreement to protect your business and set realistic expectations with clients.
You will learn about the key disclaimers you need in your social media management agreement, and most of these crucial disclaimers you won’t find in the average social media agreement for clients, so make sure you include them in your social media management agreement template!
After learning about all these must-have disclaimers, you will have happy clients while managing their expectations and protecting your time, money, and energy!
This post is all about the must-have disclaimers for your social media management agreement to manage client expectations and protect your time, money, and energy.
Best Social Media Management Agreement
The Crucial Disclaimers to Include in Your Social Media Agreement for Clients
1. Disclaimer for Platform Algorithm Changes
One crucial disclaimer that every social media manager should have in their social media management agreement is a disclaimer for changes in social media platform algorithms.
Social media platforms are constantly updating their algorithms, and these changes can tank your client’s engagement overnight, but you have no control over that whatsoever!
Include a disclaimer that you can’t be held responsible for performance drops caused by algorithm updates or new platform features.
This disclaimer should state the following:
The client acknowledges that social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter (X), and LinkedIn, regularly update their algorithms, content distribution policies, and platform features, which may significantly affect the visibility, reach, or engagement of the content and that such changes are outside your control.
You will not be held responsible or liable for any decrease in performance or reach of the content due to algorithm changes or feature updates implemented by any social media platforms.
2. Downtime & Technical Issues Disclaimer
The next disclaimer you must include in your social media management agreement is a disclaimer for platform outages, posting and scheduling failures, internet connectivity issues, etc.
These are all things that are outside your control. Even the best scheduling tools crash sometimes. Make it clear you’re not liable for delays caused by outages, bugs, or technical failures.
Here’s what this disclaimer should include:
You will not be held responsible or liable for any delays, missed deadlines, posting failures, or data losses resulting from technical issues, platform outages, maintenance, bugs, third-party application failures (including scheduling tools), internet connectivity issues, hardware failures, or force majeure events.
And explicitly include that delays caused by such events will not be deemed a breach of this agreement.
2. Disclaimer for Third-Party Platform Restrictions
The next key disclaimer for your social media management agreement is a disclaimer for situations where your client’s account gets flagged, shadowbanned, or suspended after you post content. That shouldn’t fall on you!
It should be your client, not you, who is responsible for compliance with platform rules, especially when your client is the one approving the content.
Here’s what the disclaimer should state:
You will not be held responsible or liable for any actions taken by social media platforms, including the removal, restriction, shadow-banning, flagging, demonetization, or account suspension resulting from the publication of the content.
The client is solely responsible for reviewing and approving the content prior to publication and for ensuring compliance with each platform’s community guidelines, terms of use, and advertising policies.
4. UGC & Influencer Content Disclaimer
The next essential disclaimer you won’t find in any average social media management agreement is a disclaimer for the use of user-generated content (UGC) and influencer content.
If your client asks you to repost UGC or influencer videos, it’s your client’s job to secure the rights.
You don’t want to be liable for copyright violations or angry DMs from creators!
So, here’s what you need to state in your social media management agreement:
If the client requests you to incorporate or repurpose any content originally created by third parties, including user-generated content, tagged posts, mentions, testimonials, influencer videos, or customer photos, etc., the client is solely responsible for obtaining all necessary rights, releases, and permissions to use such content in the manner requested.
You will not be held responsible or liable for verifying ownership or securing licensing for any third-party content or any third-party claims or damages related to the use of the third-party content.
5. Disclaimer for Third-Party Tools, Influencers & UGC creators
As a social media manager, you may also recommend specific influencers or UGC creators to your clients to use for their platforms. You could also recommend software and tools for their social media platforms, like schedulers or analytics tools.
But if things go wrong with the people and tools that you recommended, you don’t want to be the one to blame.
Disclaim liability for their performance (or misbehavior) and avoid being the middleman if something goes wrong.
Include a disclaimer in your social media management agreement that states the following:
You may recommend or interact with third-party tools, software, vendors, service providers, influencers, UGC creators, or other third parties, platforms, or tools at the client’s request or for the benefit of your SM services. However, you do not guarantee, warrant, represent, endorse, or take responsibility for the availability, performance, conduct, accuracy, reliability, or legality of such third parties, platforms, or tools.
The client agrees that any decision to use such platforms or tools or to enter into agreements with such third parties will be at the client’s sole risk and expense.
6. Disclaimers for Time-Sensitive Content & Client Delays
Your social media management agreement should already include:
Obligations for the client to provide their full cooperation in a timely manner.
And the consequences if the client does not provide full and timely cooperation (delays in your work and potential extra costs).
But as an extra layer of protection, you also want to include a disclaimer that protects you when late approvals or missing materials cause time-sensitive posts to flop. When trend-based posts miss their window because of client delays, your ROI goes down — and so does your credibility.
So, you need an additional disclaimer in your social media management agreement that states that:
The client acknowledges that the effectiveness of certain types of content, including trend-based posts, seasonal content, or news-driven campaigns, may be diminished if not published promptly.
You will not be held responsible or liable for reduced performance resulting from delays caused by the client, including delayed feedback, late approvals, incomplete content submissions, or failure to provide necessary materials or information in a timely manner.
7. Disclaimer for Reposts or Misuse
Once the content is live, you can’t control what others do with it.
Anyone could repurpose or misconstrue your work in a way that causes harm or confusion. You don’t want your client blaming you for what others do with your post.
That’s why you need a disclaimer in your social media management agreement that states that you will not be held responsible or liable for:
Any unauthorized reposting, screenshotting, misuse, misrepresentation, alteration, or republication of the content by third parties or platforms, or
Any damages resulting therefrom, including reputational harm or intellectual property infringement by third parties.
8. Audience Behavior Disclaimer
That brings me to the next disclaimer you must include in your social media management agreement: an audience behavior disclaimer.
Not only can you not control how others copy and repurpose your content—but you can’t control how others respond to your content, like trolls or spam comments.
Protect yourself from client expectations around engagement outcomes or negative comments.
Here’s what you need to state in your social media management agreement:
The client acknowledges that you cannot and does not control how users, followers, or viewers will respond to or engage with the content.
You will not be held responsible or liable for any negative response or engagement, including negative comments, criticism, spam, or trolling, or any damages arising or resulting therefrom, including reputational damage, mental distress, or (business) loss.
And you are under no obligation to moderate or remove comments or other responses on the client’s accounts unless specifically agreed upon in writing.
9. Storage & Backup Disclaimer
You’re not a content archive. If clients want to keep copies of posts or drafts, they should download them.
You don’t want clients to ask you for files of content you posted 6 months ago, so you need a disclaimer in your social media management agreement that states that:
You will not be held responsible for storing, archiving, or retaining any content or drafts related to that content after it’s posted.
You may permanently delete content and drafts thereof at any time after that content has been posted, and you will not be held liable for the deletion or loss of such content.
It is the client’s sole responsibility to download, store, or back up any content, Drafts, or any other materials or files the client wishes to retain.
10. Confidential Information Disclaimer
Clients sometimes share sensitive info without warning — and expect you to know what you can share or if you need to hold off on sharing certain things.
Include a disclaimer in your social media management agreement that states that you will not be held responsible or liable for the inadvertent use or disclosure of any information in the content that is not explicitly designated as confidential by the client.
11. Errors & Omissions Disclaimer
Mistakes are bound to happen. You can’t execute every single post perfectly every time.
But you should disclaim responsibility for any errors or outdated info in approved content, as it is the client’s job to review and approve final drafts!
Your disclaimer social media management agreement should state the following:
You will not be held responsible or liable for any errors or omissions in the content, including spelling or grammatical mistakes, typographical errors, factual inaccuracies, incorrect URLs, broken links, incorrect tagging, wrong hashtags, misstatements, or outdated or misquoted information, or any damages, losses, or reputational harm resulting therefrom.
It is the client’s sole responsibility to review the final content and notify you of any issues prior to publication.
Corrections requested after posting may be performed at your sole discretion and may be subject to additional fees (you should be paid for that additional work because it’s your client’s fault they did not catch that mistake on time).
12. Results & Outcomes Disclaimer
Ultimately, you can’t control how well each client’s account will perform. It depends on so many factors that are outside of your control. No one can guarantee viral content.
You must make it explicitly clear to your client that you don’t promise specific results, such as follower growth or ROI.
Here’s what your social media management agreement should state:
You will not be responsible or liable for (1) any results or outcomes derived from your services or the content, including brand awareness, follower growth, engagement metrics (such as likes, comments, shares, reach, impressions, saves), lead generation, conversions, website traffic, inquiries, and return on investment (ROI), or (2) any decisions made by the client or any third party based on your services or the content and/or any results and/or outcomes from your services or the content.
You do not represent, warrant, or guarantee any specific results or outcomes from your services or the content.
To be extra safe, include that any statements regarding potential results and/or outcomes are expressions of opinion only. Any examples of past performance, case studies, or metrics provided by you are illustrative only and do not constitute a promise or representation of future results.
13. Overall Warranties or Guarantees Disclaimer
To fully cover your “A,” you should wrap it up with a general disclaimer stating that you make no warranties or guarantees about the services or content. It reinforces everything above and adds an extra layer of legal protection.
Now, you have all the disclaimers you need to manage client expectations and protect your time, energy, and money!
The Ultimate Social Media Management Agreement Template
If you don’t have these crucial disclaimers in your social media management agreement, you’re leaving the door wide open to unrealistic expectations, blame, and liability.
Every single one of these clauses is included in my Social Media Management Agreement Template, which is created specifically for social media managers like yourself.
Want a solid, done-for-you contract to protect your social media business? Grab my plug-and-play Social Media Management Agreement and customize it in minutes.
It includes all the disclaimers above and all the other crucial protections you need as a social media manager.
You can purchase my Social Media Management Agreement Template on this page of my contract shop!
This post was all about the crucial disclaimers every social media management agreement must include for social media manager to protect their time, energy, and money.
Want to know what other crucial protections you need as a social media manager? Read this blog post on the 7 Special Protections Every Social Media Management Contract Template Must Have.
Want to know what key items you need for your scope? Read this blog post on the 10 Key Scoping Terms Every Social Media Management Agreement Template Must Have.
Get the social media management agreement template with all the crucial disclaimers you need on this page of my contract shop!
