7 Legal Essentials for Your Social Media Rate Card to Earn More (+ FREE Template)

Want a social media rate card that has all the essentials you need to earn more and protect your money? I’m sharing the crucial terms your rate card must have, and I’ll share my template with all the essentials included for free!

Getting paid to post for brands is so exciting, but figuring out what to put in your social media rate card can be quite daunting. As a lawyer for influencers and creators like you, I have helped create rate cards with legal essentials that 5x their brand deals, and I want to help you do the same.

You will learn all the key rates you must include in your social media rate card, and you’ll get a rate card influencer template free of charge, including all the crucial terms you need in your social media rate card template.

After learning about the key legal terms you need in your social media rate card, you’ll maximise your brand deals and 5x your income!

This post is all about the legal essentials every creator needs in a social media rate card to earn more money and protect their money.

Essential Social Media Rate Card

Crucial rates for your social media rate card template

This blog post goes into the key legal terms you need in your social media rate card.

But before we get into that, you must first have all the essential rates set out in your rate card.

If you don’t know which rates you must set in your rate card (besides your base rates), then first head over to my 2-part blog post in which I explain exactly which rates you must set:

Now that you have all your ducks in a row when it comes to your rates let’s get into the key legal essentials you must have in your social media rate card template to earn more and keep your money!

Key legal essentials for your influencer rate card template

1. Terms on what is included in your base rates and package deals

The first legal essential you must have in your social media rate card is terms that specify exactly what is included in your base rates.

There’s no straight answer to what you should or shouldn’t include in your base rates, and every creator has a different strategy.

At a minimum, though, you must specify the following:

If it’s a video, the maximum number of seconds
If it’s a carousel post, how many photos/pages are included in the carousel post
If it’s an integrated ad in a YouTube video, where within the YouTube video will the ad be placed
If a revision round is included or not (even if no revision rounds are included, make this crystal clear!)
If one or more revision rounds are included, specify how many (just one revision round or two or three?)

If you do not specify if and, if so, how many revision rounds are included in your base rate, the brand will keep asking for more revisions without compensating you for all the extra effort and time you must put into it.

Do the same for your package deals, like bundles and campaigns you offer. Specify (1) how many content pieces are included and (2) over what period of time the content pieces are published. Here’s what I mean:

If you offer multiple different content pieces, like 1 Reel and 1 Story, will the Story be posted in the same week?
If you offer a campaign with 4 sponsored posts, will it be 1 post every week or every 2 weeks?

If you want to earn more, you can also justify a higher base rate by including add-ons in your base rates, such as the following:

30 days of exclusivity, as a brand will always want exclusivity (in which case the brand must pay an additional exclusivity rate for every extra month of exclusivity)
30 days of organic usage rights, as the brand will probably want to post your content piece on its own channels
30 days of whitelisting (after which an additional whitelisting fee is paid for each additional 30 days of running ads on your post)

2. The stats that make your rates

Speaking of justifying higher base rates, the next essential for your social media rate card is the statistics on which you base your (higher) base rates.

But not only that, specifying your stats also makes it clear to the brand what current numbers you base your prices on. When those numbers go up, you can update those stats in your social media rate card and, thus, also raise your rates.

That also makes it easy for you to justify to the brand why your rates went up.

3. A disclaimer for changes in your rates

That brings me to the next legal essential for your social media rate card template: A disclaimer stating that all your rates and terms are subject to change.

❌ The brand can’t assume that these rates are fixed and can’t change

❌ The brand can’t hold you to those rates when, finally, 3 months later, it tells you it wants to work with you, but in the meantime, you have gained 10,000 followers and changed your rates

❌ The brand can’t negotiate different terms with you, like very limiting exclusivity terms that would justify a higher exclusivity rate, and expect that these rates remain the same

4. A disclaimer for contract terms that influence your rates

That brings me to the next legal essential for your social media rate card: A disclaimer stating that final prices are subject to the terms and conditions you and the brand agree on in a formal contract.

I already gave an example regarding the exclusivity rate, but here are a few more to clarify why you may want to increase certain rates:

One of the rates you’ll include in your influencer rate card is a fee for paid usage rights, which means that the brand can use your content on its own name to create ads with its own account. But this rate assumes that the brand will only run ads on its own platforms. In the contract, however, you agree that the brand may use the content for other ads, like FaceBook, Instagram, TikTok, and email campaigns. The brand should then pay you more for exploiting your content on more platforms.
Another example is a rush fee. You may assume that a rush fee includes creating and posting a sponsored post within one week. However, the brand wants you to do it within 3 days. That means you have to put everything aside to make this happen within 36 hours. You should charge a higher fee for that.

That is why you must include a disclaimer in your social media rate card stating that these fees are subject to the specific terms you agree on with the brand.

5. A disclaimer for the purpose of your rate card

That brings me to the next legal essential for your social media rate card template: Disclaimers stating that your social media rate card (1) is for informational purposes only and (2) does not constitute a final contract.

It’s absolutely crucial that you include this disclaimer in your social media rate card. If you send the brand your rate card via email, and the brand responds with a confirmation email stating that it agrees with your rate card, that could mean you just entered into a legally binding contract.

That is if you do not include the proper disclaimers.

By including all these disclaimers I discuss in this blog post, you ensure that you are never bound to the rates you send brands.

By including this disclaimer specifically, you ensure that the brand understands that it must enter into a formal brand sponsorship contract with you to have a deal.

In your brand sponsorship contract, you will also lay out the terms and associated fees in detail, as I have already discussed in the previous paragraph. That way, there can be no misunderstandings, and you’ll ensure you get fair compensation for all the services you provide and protect your money.

Don’t have a brand sponsorship agreement? I sell an influencer-friendly brand sponsorship contract on this page of my contract shop!

6. What currency applies

The next essential term you must have in your social media rate card is a term clarifying what currency applies to your rates.

Is it US, Canadian or Australian dollars or euros? Brands from all over the world work with different creators in different countries. With the major differences in currency rates, you don’t want to end up with less money because a US brand had mistaken your rates for being in dollars instead of euros.

So, always include a term stating “all prices listed are in [currency].”

7. A disclaimer for any additional costs you may incur

The last crucial term you must have in your social media rate card is a term that states that any additional costs and expenses you must incur for the brand will be charged separately.

For example, the brand may want you to film a video at the brand’s establishment, which is 50 miles away from your home. In that case, you will want to be compensated for your travel costs.

Or, the brand may want you to use a specific item that you will have to purchase. Then, you should charge those expenses to the brand, too.

Otherwise, you are losing money on your deal.

That’s why you need all these legal essentials in your social media rate card: to earn more and protect your money!

Get your social media rate card template free of charge!

Now that you know exactly which essential legal terms you need in your social media rate card. But I’m not going to have you try to write them all out yourself. Especially for my readers, I have created a complete social media rate card template free of charge!

I’m giving you access to my influencer rate card template on Canva, which you can easily customise to use for your brand deals.

All you need to do is subscribe to my newsletter below and get immediate access to your social media rate card.

You’ll have access to the social media rate card template AND all my other free legal templates and resources in my library!

Subscribe now to gain access:

Essential rates for any YouTube, TikTok and Instagram rate card template

Now, you know about all the legal terms you need in your social media rate card.

However, you also need to list all the essential rates in your YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram rate card template to 5x your brand deals and get paid for your value.

In my 2-part blog post on the 11 crucial rates any social media rate card must have, I break down each rate you must have in your influencer rate card template, besides just the base rates, such as the following:

Separate rates for organic and paid usage rights
Whitelisting fees
Exclusivity rates
Revision fees
Post-production fees
Rush fees
And all the other 5 rates!

Read all about the essential rates you need to 5x your brand deals in these blog posts:

Share your social media rate card ideas

Are there terms you use that I have not mentioned in this blog post?

Are there any additional rates you’ve added to your social media rate card?

Or do you have any other social media rate card ideas you’d like to share with me?

I’d love to hear from you!

You can email me, or you can message me on TikTok, where I share all my legal tips and tricks to help you earn more and protect your money, intellectual property, and time!

This post was all about the key legal essentials you must have in your social media rate card to maximise brand deals and protect your money.

Want to know how you can easily 1.5x your brand deals after setting up your social media rate card? Read this blog post on how to Turn a $5,000 Brand Deal into $7,500 with Your Brand Sponsorship Contract (7 Essential Money Terms).

Once you have customised your social media rate card template, you need a brand sponsorship contract to solidify your brand deals! Get your brand sponsorship agreement on this page of my contract shop!