Imagine the following scenario. I am offering to pay you a good, fair wage for one week. During that week, I'll provide you with products from my well-known brand that you'll include in a blog post as well as social content. Sounds like a good deal, right? Oh, but I forgot to mention one detail. You can't write about any of my competitors for six months. Remember, I'm only paying you for a week but you can't take money from my competitors for six months. Would you take that deal? Probably not.

Well, the best influencers are also saying probably not when we approach them with influencer exclusivity clauses that are unbalanced. To help brands avoid these potential issues, we've outlined a few considerations brand marketers should keep in mind.

Key Considerations Regarding Influencer Exclusivity Clauses

Consider the Influencer's Category

Before you begin to request any type of exclusivity from your influencer, it's fair to consider what category they're working within. A beauty influencer that only writes about beauty products every day would most likely decline such an offer because it would ruin their entire livelihood. But there are certain categories, such as lifestyle bloggers, where the influencer is only talking about one little piece of a product, that this scenario might work. But again, certain categories will require you to be very narrow with your competitor list or really narrow with your category list to make sure you get the best influencers. The best influencers aren't willing to take six-month bans that prevent them from working on a regular basis.

Consider Ambassador Programs

Now, if you're really committed to getting people to lock in with you, then lock in with them. Hire them for long-term ambassador programs. This can be six or 12-month programs where you agree to work with them for an extended period of time and then, naturally, they'll agree to work with you. It's a winning strategy for both sides because we've found throughout ambassador programs that over time the content gets better and the engagement rate goes up dramatically.

Consider How Where You're Finding Your Influencers

Finally, think about how you're getting your influencers. If the job's being posted in a marketplace, meaning anyone can join the program, you're going to get some bottom feeders who just create content all the time, for anyone. But if you're hand-selecting the influencers, as we do at Carusele, and vetting them carefully, you can find influencers who know how to deal with multiple products in a way that's really compelling, really authentic and still works really well for your brand.

So in the future, be careful when you think about influencer exclusivity provisions and developing influencer contracts, and make sure you're only asking for what you actually need.