Negotiating the Influencer Contract Role of Social Media Influencer This negotiation is between two people discussing the terms of an influencer contract: the Marketing Manager at Kish Inc. and the Social Media Influencer of Fun&Fit. Background Information Today's Date: June 1st You are a Social Media Influencer who created the brand Fun&Fit five years ago to share your love for health, fitness and everyday fun. Fun&Fit has quickly became a popular Instagram page with approximately 125,000 followers to date. With so much success on Instagram you decided to launch the Fun&Fit blog to grow your brand even more. Your following primarily consists of 18 to 32-year-old women who are for the most part highly athletic. You typically share how you stay active through sports such as swimming, soccer, basketball, running etc. Most recently you have taken up yoga and have started posting more laidback and relaxing content on your Instagram feed. So far, this new yoga content has started attracting more nonathletic, easygoing individuals who are following your blog and Instagram. You are thrilled with this growth and are hopeful that you can now secure more partnership contracts with your audience expanding into new markets. You are extremely excited to have landed a meeting with Kish Inc., an athletic company that designs and manufactures chic athletic attire, shoes and accessories. The DC based company has seen significant growth in the past five years. Kish Inc. is sold in major retail stores across the United States. You already own a few products from Kish Inc. and truly love the quality and style of the brand. You know the company currently works with a variety of sports and lifestyle influencers. You have also heard from your influencer friends that occasionally Kish Inc. may re-share an influencer post on their company Instagram feed, which would be fantastic. Working with Kish Inc. could skyrocket your career and enable you to work with other major brands in the long run. Issues of concern in this negotiation Type of Content You have an Instagram following of 125,000 followers and a high engagement rate of 3%. An engagement rate is used to measure the level of interaction by followers. Most influencer have a 1% engagement rate meaning your 3% rate is remarkable. You launched a blog two months ago that is showing tremendous growth in such a short time frame. Currently the blog receives 35,000 unique monthly visitors (UVM), but is increasing daily. You are hoping to start adding blog posts to future partnership contracts. You would be happy to negotiate a combination of the following: Instagram Post: Posts to your Instagram feed with product placement and caption Blog Post: Original blog post that you write mentioning Kish Inc. to be shared on your blog Content Schedule You have signed contracts with multiple companies and your calendar is packed for the current year. It takes time to capture photos, edit, and write captions, so ideally you don't want a contract with more than one post per month. You also will be traveling on a family vacation from June through July and have no scheduled content during these two months to allow yourself rest and recuperation. Ideally, you

Kishori Turner & Professor Alexandra Mislin Role of Social Media Influencer2 would prefer not to have to worry about posting content during your vacation, but it would not be the end of the world if you had to. Your preference is to start posting content for Kish Inc. on or after August 1st . Exclusivity Clause You are aware that Kish Inc. is most likely going to ask you to sign an exclusivity clause to make sure you are not posting about Lululemon. You feel that their concern is unwarranted because you would never post inappropriately or risk appearing inauthentic about a brand to your followers. You prefer not sign an exclusivity clause with Kish Inc. in case Lululemon wants to work with you. But you are also aware that Kish Inc. will most likely pay you significantly more per post if you sign an exclusivity clause, and this may compensate for losing a potential alternative deal with Lululemon. Cost Per Post In the social media influencer world, there is no set price per post, which makes it extremely challenging to determine how much to ask for. Over time you have learned that price per post is typically based on your number of followers, engagement rate, audience demographic, and quality of content. You aren't exactly sure how much you should be paid, but you have a broad sense of what you think you should be compensated. Last year when your social media presence was much smaller, you were getting paid around $800 per post from an athletic shoe company. You also know that your more prominent influencer friend who has around 480,000 followers has received $6,000 per post. You have a broad range of what you think an influencer should be compensated anywhere from $800 to $6,000 dollars per post. You would prefer a contract with at least 10 Instagram and/or blog posts with the total partnership deal landing at a minimum of $10,000. Ideally, each post should be spaced out every 30-60 days. You do not like when brands ask you to post more than once per month as it does not feel authentic to your followers. Alternative Deal A few weeks ago you were approached by the largest yoga and athleisure brand in the market, and also Kish Inc.'s biggest competitor, Lululemon. You would love to strike up a deal with Lululemon, since working with them could help you grow and build your brand. But you really don't know where you stand with this opportunity because you haven't been able to schedule a follow up and apparently there's been turnover in Lululemon's marketing department.

SUMMARY

Your objective is to negotiate an agreement with Kish Inc. Your contract should specify the total number of social media posts, types of posts (Instagram and/or blog posts), payment per post, timing of the posts (date of first post), and any additional details if applicable. Here is a summary of your negotiation objectives in order of priority to you: 1. A total partnership deal of at least $10,000 with price per post ranges from $800 to $6,000 2. At least 10 Instagram and/or blog posts with posts every 30-60 days (not more frequent) 3. Combination of both Instagram and blog posts in the contract 4. Start posting after August 1st 5. Prefer not to sign an exclusivity clause, but willing to consider if compensated appropriately 6. You've heard that sometimes brands may re-share an influencer posts on their own company Instagram feed, which is free advertising for you. Including this in your contract would be a big plus! NOTE On Instagram you have 125,000 followers and a high engagement rate of 3%. Your blog (launched 2 months ago) currently receives 35,000 unique monthly visitors (UVM).

QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ANSWERED:

About You 1. What is your overall goal? 2. What are the issues in the negotiation and rank how important each one is to you. (Note, you can add issues that are not necessarily listed on the information sheet too) 3. What is your "best alternative to negotiated agreement" (BATNA)? 4. What is your resistance point (i.e., the worst agreement you are willing to accept before ending negotiations)? About the Other Side 1. If you had to guess based on what you know about the role they are in: a. How important do you think each issue is to them? b. What do you think their BATNA might be? c. What do you think their resistance point is? d. Based on questions B.1, B.2, and B.3, what is your target (i.e., the deal you are hoping to realistically get)? The Situation 1. Are there any deadlines, and if you had to guess, who is more impatient? 2. What topics or questions do you want to avoid? How will you respond if they ask anyway? The Relationship Between the Parties (The role parties) 1. Will negotiations be repetitive (i.e., will you likely have to continue interacting with this person?)? If so, what are the future consequences of each strategy, tactic, or action you are considering? 2. Can you trust the other party? What do you know about them? (Not thinking about the person, just the role, (for example, like would you trust a doctor who you were going to see about a health issue, would you trust a car salesperson that is trying to sell you a car?) 3. Based on the role you are playing, do you think the other party trust you?