As a social media influencer, the content you create and the brand you develop for yourself is your business. Just like any other business owner, you need to protect your assets from all the legal and reputational risks that only amplify when you’re in the spotlight. So, how can influencers protect their assets?
From hedging against copyright risks to protecting your assets from lawsuits, learn how to secure your assets.
Risks Associated With Being a Social Media Influencer
To stand out on social media channels as a creator, you need to develop a unique brand. Doing so, unfortunately, comes with numerous risks:
- Intellectual property rights: When you develop unique content, it serves as a fundamental business asset. If other creators start copying your content, you could lose your platform.
- Content theft: Content theft can go both ways. People may attempt to plagiarize your content if you don’t have the proper copyrights, or you could accidentally steal someone else’s trademark, resulting in legal risks.
- Reputational risks: When you’re in the spotlight, people may find ways to spread rumors about your brand, harming your reputation.
- Misleading advertising: One of the largest revenue streams for influencers is affiliate marketing. When you create sponsored ads, you could face legal risks for misleading claims.
- Lawsuits: Lawsuits can arise for seemingly endless reasons, especially when millions know your brand. Such claims can place your assets at risk while harming your reputation.
The bottom line is that social media influencers need asset protection, even if their assets are merely logos and catchphrases.
How Can Influencers Protect Their Assets
So, how can influencers protect their assets from these risks? Influencer asset protection can involve a number of different strategies:
Register Your Trademark
Many influencers use specific logos, designs, phrases, or names throughout their content that help fans recognize their brand. For example, if you use one username across your channels that helps identify who you are, it may be your trademark. You can officially register your trademark to prevent others from using it.
Use Legal Entities
Legal entities provide critical asset security for social media influencers. If someone tries to sue you for false advertising in a TikTok video, you can use a legal entity to protect your valuable assets from seizure. Some of the primary legal entities for safeguarding influencer wealth include the following:
Trusts
Trusts are fiduciary arrangements that allow you to assign a trustee the right to hold the title of your assets for beneficiaries. For the purpose of influencer asset management, trusts remove titles from your name so they are protected in the event of an asset seizure.
There are two different types of trusts commonly used by influencers to protect their assets. First, there are domestic trusts, trusts made within the United States. However, domestic trusts have been and still can be compromised. On the other hand, offshore trusts provide better asset security, as many foreign jurisdictions have policies that prevent U.S. courts from accessing your assets. If you’re interested in setting up an offshore trust, consult an asset protection attorney.
LLC
LLC stands for limited liability company, meaning you balance the liability protection of a corporation structure with flexibility. As an influencer, setting up your business as an official LLC can protect your personal assets from seizure during a lawsuit against your business.
For example, if someone sues you for using copyrighted content in one of your Instagram posts and a court orders you to pay damages, your personal assets, including your home, vehicle, and more, would be at risk. If you set up an LLC for your influencer business, only your business-related assets would be at risk of seizure.
Corporations
For an even more secure company entity, you could choose a corporation. Corporations provide significant asset protection, placing a thick wall between who you are and your influencer brand. Unfortunately, corporations also come with additional restrictions.
For example, you must file paperwork annually to adhere to your state’s specific regulations, document regular meetings, elect directors and corporate officers, and create corporate resolutions. If you fail to meet corporation requirements, your asset protection may dissolve.
Purchase Insurance
One of the legal strategies for influencer finances that many overlook is securing proper business insurance. You could purchase liability insurance, cybercrime coverage, a business owner’s policy, cyber liability insurance, asset protection insurance, and more. Insurance policies typically kick in after an event occurs, covering some or all of your damages so you don’t suffer the financial effects.
What Unique Assets Do Influencers Have?
Understanding what intellectual property you have can help you determine what you may need for asset protection.
Logo
Your logo helps your followers identify you from the sea of other creators on the internet. You can protect your logo by registering a trademark.
Brand Name
Your brand name is similar to your logo — it defines who you are as a creator. You can trademark your brand name just as you can a business name.
Content & Vlogs
When you create content and publish it online, it doesn’t necessarily become public domain. People can replicate some of the ideas you produce, but they cannot copy your exact text, images, and videos and then claim it as their own. Your content and vlogs are business assets that others cannot plagiarize without legal ramifications.
Podcasts
Podcasts work similarly to written text. The words you speak are business assets that you must protect like everything else.
Do You Own Your Content on Third-Party Platforms?
When your influencer brand publishes content online, what rights do you have to that content? Each platform has its own policies.
Facebook uses an Intellectual Property Policy that prevents users from publishing content that infringes upon another brand’s intellectual property rights, including trademarks and copyrights. You own the content you post on Facebook. The platform’s policies prevent other users from copying what you’ve published.
Twitter (X) follows trademark and copyright policies that prohibit users from violating another’s intellectual property through trademarks or copyrights. When you publish on Twitter, you own your content, though you also give Twitter the rights to use your content and make it available to others for the same use.
YouTube
YouTube has a copyright policy in place that requires users to upload videos that they have made or been authorized to use. Your content cannot use copyrighted videos, music, or snippets of content made by other users. You own your content on YouTube, as the platform automatically copyrights it for you, but in return, YouTube gains non-exclusive rights to control it.
Twitch
Twitch has a trademark policy preventing users from violating trademarks and music guidelines to protect the intellectual property of creators. You own the copyright when you publish content on Twitch, though Twitch retains the license to distribute your videos.
TikTok
TikTok enacts an Intellectual Property Policy that prevents users from violating another’s copyrights, trademarks, or intellectual property. TikTok automatically copyrights original videos on your behalf, granting you ownership.
What If You Are Already Facing a Lawsuit?
The strategies for protecting income and assets for influencers aren’t entirely fail-safe and can take time to implement. If you’re already facing a lawsuit before having developed your safety net, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible. Depending on your situation, you may be able to create a legal entity to protect some of your personal assets.
Guest Author: Blake Harris