Influencer contract template (free) and the clauses that matter

Most influencer deals go wrong in the gap between what the brand assumed and what the creator agreed to. A contract closes that gap. It is the last step of a full influencer marketing strategy, and it should match the influencer brief line for line. If the brief says two videos and a story, the contract says two videos and a story.

This is a template, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review it. Laws differ by country and state, and nothing here makes any clause enforceable where you are.

What should an influencer contract include?

Nine clauses, and each one prevents a specific fight:

Clause	What it settles	The fight it prevents
Deliverables	Format, count, length, platform	"I thought it was one video"
Timeline	Draft date, post date, how long it stays up	The post goes up three weeks late, then gets deleted
Approvals	Who reviews, how many rounds	Endless edits, or none at all
Disclosure	#ad wording and the platform label	An undisclosed post with your brand in it
Usage rights	Where, how long, organic or paid	Your ad runs on their face for a year they never agreed to
Paid ads access	Spark Ads codes, partnership ads	The code expires mid-campaign
Exclusivity	Competitors, category, window	They post for your rival next week
Payment	Fee, schedule, method, late post penalty	Chasing invoices, or paying for nothing
Termination	Kill fee, morals clause, takedowns	Being stuck with a creator after a scandal

Free influencer contract template

Copy this, fill the brackets, and send it to your lawyer before you send it to a creator. It is written for a single paid campaign. For an ongoing ambassador deal, add a term and renewal clause.

INFLUENCER AGREEMENT

This agreement is between [Brand legal name] ("Brand") and
[Creator legal name], known as [@handle] ("Creator"),
dated [date].

1. DELIVERABLES
Creator will produce and publish:
- [2] TikTok videos, [30-60] seconds each, on [@handle]
- [1] Instagram Reel cross-post of video 1
Each deliverable follows the brief attached as Exhibit A.

2. TIMELINE
- Drafts due to Brand: [date]
- Brand feedback within [2] business days of each draft
- Publish dates: [date], [date]
- Posts stay live for at least [90] days

3. APPROVALS
Brand gets [2] rounds of revisions per deliverable.
Revisions cover accuracy and the brief, not creative style.
Creator will not publish before Brand approves in writing.

4. DISCLOSURE
Creator will disclose the paid relationship in every post:
"#ad" or "Paid partnership with [Brand]" at the start of
the caption, plus the platform's paid partnership or
commercial content label. Creator will not make claims about
the product that Brand has not approved in writing. Brand
may ask Creator to correct a missing or unclear disclosure,
and Creator will fix it within [24] hours.

5. USAGE RIGHTS
Creator owns the content. Creator grants Brand a
[non-exclusive] license to:
- Repost on Brand's own social accounts: [12 months]
- Use on Brand's website and email: [12 months]
- Use in paid ads: [90 days] from first ad spend
Extension of paid usage: [$X] per additional [30] days.
Brand will not edit the content in a way that changes its
meaning without Creator's approval.

6. PAID ADS ACCESS
Creator will provide a TikTok Spark Ads authorization code
for each video, valid for at least [60] days, within
[3] days of publishing. Creator will renew it on request
during the paid usage period.

7. EXCLUSIVITY
Creator will not publish sponsored content for
[named competitors / product category] from [7 days before]
the first post until [30 days after] the last post.

8. PAYMENT
Total fee: [$X], paid [50%] on signing and [50%] within
[15] days of the final post going live.
If a post goes live more than [5] days late without Brand's
agreement, the fee for that post drops by [X%].
Gifted product: [describe], not counted as payment.

9. TERMINATION
Either party may end this agreement in writing.
If Brand ends it before drafts are delivered, Brand pays
[25%] of the fee. After drafts, Brand pays [50%].
Brand may end it with no fee owed if Creator publicly
engages in conduct that Brand reasonably believes
seriously harms its reputation.
On termination, Brand stops new paid usage within [7] days.

10. GENERAL
Creator is an independent contractor. Creator will give
Brand the raw video files without captions or watermarks
within [7] days of publishing. Governing law: [state/country].

Signed: ______________ (Brand)   ______________ (Creator)

Which clauses cause the most disputes?

Usage rights. Our view: price organic reposting and paid ads separately, every time. A creator charging for one TikTok post is not charging for a year of your ad spend behind their face. If you want paid usage through whitelisting, say so before you agree the fee, not after the post performs. Perpetual rights are fine if you pay for them. Asking for them in the small print of a gifted deal is how you get named in a creator's story.

Paid ads access. On TikTok, boosting a creator's post runs through an authorization code the creator generates, and the creator picks how long it lasts. Put a minimum length and a renewal duty in the contract. Our Spark Ads guide covers the mechanics.

Approvals. Two rounds is normal. Brands that rewrite the script into a TV ad get a post that performs like one. Limit revisions to accuracy and the brief.

Exclusivity. Name the competitors or the category, and keep the window short. A wide, long exclusivity clause is a real cost to the creator, and they will price it in.

How do FTC rules affect an influencer contract?

In the US, the creator must disclose that you paid them, and that includes free product. The FTC's Disclosures 101 for social media influencers says to disclose "if you got anything of value to mention a product", to put it where it's hard to miss, and not to rely on a platform's disclosure tool alone. Simple words like "ad" or "sponsored" work. A disclosure hidden after the "more" fold does not.

This is the brand's problem too. When the FTC updated its Endorsement Guides in 2023, it made clear that advertisers can be liable for what their endorsers say and fail to disclose. So the contract should require #ad, require the platform label, and give you the right to ask for corrections. Then actually check the posts.

TikTok has its own rule on top. Its commercial content disclosure setting labels a post as a paid partnership, and TikTok says turning it on doesn't change how the post is recommended. There is no reach-based reason to skip it.

Payment terms that are fair to both sides

Split the fee. Half on signing, half when the final post is live and matches the brief, is common and easy to defend. Pay within 15 to 30 days. Creators talk to each other, and a brand that pays in 90 days gets a reputation fast.

Add a late-post reduction rather than a big penalty. It keeps the creator on schedule without turning one missed date into a legal fight. And write the kill fee in now. Campaigns get cancelled. A creator who has already filmed deserves something for the work.

Before you send it

• Match every number in the contract to the brief.
• Get the creator's legal name, not just the handle.
• Agree on rates first, then send the paper. A contract is not a negotiation opener.
• Keep it short. A creator should be able to read it in ten minutes.

Writing contracts is the easy half. The hard half is finding creators worth signing and running the back-and-forth on rates, rights and drafts. If you'd rather hand that off, send us a brief and we'll shortlist creators by hand and run the paperwork with you. The template above still applies, and so does the lawyer.