LEGAL
Influencers: Breaking the Law Without Realising?
Influencers have changed the marketing game forever. Once, buying a slot of time on a TV channel to advertise your product or service was the most popular and effective method of advertising. But now, paying an influencer to promote your brand can reach your target audience – their engaged and interested followers. Influencer marketing is now one of the most effective ways to target most brand’s primary their legal rights in the booming multibildemographic, millennials. Adweek reported lion-dollar social advertising industry. If, as that businesses are spending 500 per cent an influencer, you use images that haven’t more on been created or commissioned advertising Posting unoriginal by yourself or are not marked directed at as free for public use, you content on social media is millennials could be liable for wilful inthan any other theft of a creator’s fringement. A copyright can be demographic. intellectual property... applied by creators to protect Today, young their intellectual property, so people spend reusing digital content in social an estimated media posts that generate revenue is classed as nine hours a day on social apps, making sobreaking the law. cial media advertising the best choice to reach If an influencer doesn’t hold the rights to these young consumers. content but is interested in using it for their The rapid growth of the influencer market own purposes, they need to seek a licensing has attracted its own challenges, so brands and influencers must be aware and up-to-date agreement like in any other industry. The copyright holder can permit influencers to with rules and regulations. When it comes use images in to licensing, there are many ways specified Businesses are spending ambiguous rules influencers in the licensing 500 per cent more on need to follow, otherwise agreement. they might not even realise advertising directed at In the same that they’re breaking the law. millennials way, influencPosting unoriginal content ers can have on social media is theft of a their content creator’s intellectual property, stolen, with other sites seeking to monetise and more and more creators are exercising
TOTAL BRAND LICENSING
from an influencers’ copyrighted images without permission or a licence. When influencers are paid to create a post promoting a brand, they can maximise their profit by protect-
Influencer marketing is now one of the most effective ways to target most brand’s primary demographic... ing the content they make. Influencers can license the photograph used to the brand for an endorsement, which can be used on the brand’s website or other advertising mediums. Copyright infringement of influencer content is quite common, with third-party sources taking content to drive their own revenue. Influencer marketing is evolving the commercial landscape, with licences needed for social media posts due to the way this content can generate profit. Research undertaken by Tan Luxe www.tan-luxe.com
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