When I first started out as an influencer, I was beyond confused by all the terms flying around. From SOWs, to KPIs, deliverables, whitelisting, usage, exclusivity, etc. I realized I was in WAY over my head. Over the almost 4 years I’ve been a content creator, I’ve learned the definitions of each of these terms and I want to share with you today! So let’s jump in – I’m sharing my definition of each of these terms below:
The Influencer Dictionary
SOW
First up is the term SOW. SOW is an acronym standing for scope of work. The term scope of work represents all of the deliverables (or assets) you will be providing to the brand. SOW is a broader term that encompasses all deliverables required, timeline, exclusivity, and all the specifics of the project you are working on.
Meltwater defines a scope of work as needing “to include the specific deliverables the influencer must produce to satisfy the agreement.” An example of an SOW is “a static post shared to the influencer’s feed on 7/15 with accompanying 3 slide Instagram story set. Content is due 7/10 for approval by the brand.”
Deliverables
Deliverables are the assets the brand is asking you to create. Think of deliverables as the items you will need to turn in for approval and in some cases, post when working on a brand deal. Depending on the deliverables required for the campaign, you will charge more. For example, a static Instagram post alone runs at a lower rate than a static Instagram post, 1 Instagram reel, and a 500-600 word blog post. This example is why clarifying deliverables is INCREDIBLY important before agreeing to participate in a campaign.
The most common types of deliverables are as follows:
- Static Instagram post – static posts, also known as grid posts, are standard posts shared to your Instagram profile. Your followers see this post on your grid, a.k.a. your Instagram profile.
- Carousel Instagram post – a static post on Instagram with multiple slides.
- Instagram story – a video or photo that lives for 24 hours on a user’s Instagram profile.
- Instagram reels – a 15-30 second vertical short-form video shared on a user’s Instagram feed or just within the Instagram reels section of the app.
- IGTV – a longer form vertical video shared to a user’s Instagram profile and available under IGTV section of the app.
- Instagram/TikTok Live – a recorded video that users can view in real time.
- TikTok video – a 1-60 second short-form, vertical video shared to a user’s TikTok account.
- Blog post – what you are reading right now ๐
- Pinterest pin – Pinterest pins can come in the form of photographs, videos, or story pins.
- Facebook post – a photo or video pots on Facebook. This can be a carousel post as well.
A static post requires far more effort than a simple IG story. A video takes even more production than a static post. Think about your time. Consider the ask and SOW when calculating your rates. Ask for an clear set of deliverables before you provide a rate.
Usage
Usage is a term that describes the way in which the brand plans to distribute your content. Will the brand be reposting to their social accounts? Will they be creating ads with your content? Could they be placing your photos on a billboard? Are they whitelisting your content? It is important to understand how they are using your content. The more items they are using your work for, the more you can charge. A tool that has helped me price out some of these terms of usage is Getty Image Price Calculator.
Additionally, for me, my licensing fees for social media usage look quite different than my rates for extended usage in ads, email marketing, or print marketing, for example. My usage rates vary drastically depending on the term of usage as well, so pricing for 6 months is far less than pricing for usage for 2 years. I typically try to steer clear from agreeing to usage for more than 2 years and especially usage in perpetuity. You never know when a brand may come under fire for past actions and I personally would not want to be associated with a brand that has been โcancelled.โ That said, do your due diligence and research the brands you are working with to ensure that you agree with their mission and values.
Exclusivity
Exclusivity relates to the time period in which you are restricted from working from other brands in that category.
For example, say you have agreed to work with Target, and they ask that you not work with any of their competitors for 3 months after your post. If Walmart approaches you and offers double the bid for a post, you will be contractually obligated to Target. You can ask Target to compensate you upfront, knowing that you might run into this dilemma. If the brand is unwilling to compensate for exclusivity, I ask them to remove that clause from the contract. I also offer some different pricing and rates based on various windows of exclusivity (2 weeks is a lot different than 3 months).
Whitelisting
This term is a little harder to explain, so I turned to the experts at AspireIQ to help me out. AspireIQ defines whitelisting as “The process of an influencer granting a brand partner advertising permissions to their social media accounts. This allows brands to use the influencerโs handle for their ads.” In the influencer world, this is most commonly done by granting a brand permission to access your Instagram or Facebook account. Once the brand has access, they can pay for ads to run directly from your brand or Instagram handle. This benefits the brand as the ad may appear more organically coming from you, an influencer, vs. a large corporation.
Whitelisting is something you can absolutely charge brands for. They are using your brand to reach new audiences. Confirm with the brand how they plan to whitelist your content and charge accordingly!
KPIs
Up next we have KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are the metrics are measured against to determine how successful the campaign is. For example, a brand may be looking for your content to receive a certain number of impressions, or saves, or shares. Brands often ask for all insights and screenshots of the analytics from your campaign, but it never hurts to ask ahead of time what KPIs you will be measured against.
Reach
Your reach is the number of unique (not repeat) users who saw your content at a given time. This term is a common metric that appears in your Instagram insights section.
Impressions
Impressions and reach are different terms, thought often confused. This term relates to the number of times your content was shown to users. Meaning, the number of times your content was viewed by a user, including repeat readers. Sprout Social defines reach as “the total number of times your content could have been seen.” When you have a high number of impressions, it is a good sign, because users are viewing your content multiple times.
Engagement Rate
Last but certainly not least, engagement rate is one of the most important terms in the influencer marketing world. You can calculate you engagement rate by taking the total number of likes and comments per post (aka engagements) divided by the influencer’s number of followers. This graphic from Keyhole explains the engagement rate formula.
Letโs do a simple example. Say your number of likes and comments totaled is 100. In the first example, letโs use 500 as the amount of followers. 100/500 x 100 = 20%. Now, letโs say you have 300 followers. 100/300 x 100= 33.33%. 33.33% is your engagement rate in this example.
In my time as an influencer, I’ve always heard brands look for an engagement rate between 3-5%. This article from Scrunch defines a high engagement rate as between 3.5-6%.
That’s a wrap! I hope these terms help you as you work with more brands and develop your personal brand as an influencer. What terms do you have questions about? Share down below in the comments!
P.S. I’d love your input! Feel free to drop some Tip Tuesday topics YOU WANT to see in the upcoming months!
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