Seven clauses to read before signing a social media agency contract
The contract clauses that decide what you own, how you leave and what happens to your content, explained from the client side rather than the agency side.
Short answer
A social media agency contract should state the scope in published pieces, who owns the accounts, footage, finished files and project files, what access the agency holds and how it is revoked, the notice period, and what is excluded. Read the termination and ownership sections first, because they decide how easy it is to leave. If a clause is missing, ask for it in writing before paying.
A social media agency contract needs to say five things plainly: how much work you are buying, counted in published pieces; who owns the accounts, the footage and the finished files; what access the agency holds and how you take it back; how long you are locked in and how you leave; and what is excluded. Most proposals cover the first of those and the price, then go quiet.
Read the termination and ownership sections first, because they decide how easy it is to leave, and leaving is when a contract gets read properly. If a clause below is missing, ask for it in writing before you pay.
Why the templates online are written for the other side
Search the phrase and every result is a template vendor or an agency guide. HeyOrca's guide lists nine sections: parties, scope, fees, timeline and termination, ownership, confidentiality, dispute resolution, clarifying expectations, and signatures. It is written for agencies; the ownership section tells its reader that "your client is entitled to ownership of all work produced". Nothing in it covers how the agency's access gets revoked, what happens to scheduled content when you part ways, or who owns the raw footage. Those clauses you add yourself.
Scope, counted in published pieces not files
Scope settles every later argument about whether something was included. Write it as output on your channels, not as files in a folder.
A weak scope reads "social media management for Instagram and YouTube". A usable one reads: eight short form videos edited, captioned and posted to Instagram and YouTube per month; two long form videos posted to YouTube with custom thumbnails; comment replies within one working day. Three checks:
- Each cross posted piece is counted once, so five copies of one clip are not five deliverables.
- Packaging is inside the count. A video without a title, caption and thumbnail is not a published piece.
- There is a line for a month you deliver no footage. Does the fee roll over, reduce or stand?
If scope is only a number of edits, you have bought an editing service.
Ownership of accounts, footage, finished files and project files
Accounts. Pages and channels stay in your name, with your recovery email and phone, inside a business portfolio you control. Anything created during the engagement is created under your details. Ownership on a platform is practical before it is legal: whoever holds the login and recovery details owns the page, whatever the paper says.
Footage and finished files. One sentence does it: the Agency confirms that all footage is the Client's and assigns every edit, caption, thumbnail and cover to the Client on delivery, or on payment of the invoice that covers it. Look for "assigns" and "on delivery". Question "licence", because a licence can lapse or be withdrawn.
Project files. Timelines, templates, subtitle files, the thumbnail source. Ask for them at exit at minimum, in native format, on a drive you own. An agency keeping its presets is fair. Your finished pieces depending on them is not.
Access: what the agency gets and how you take it back
This is the clause that outlasts the contract. A role granted in month one is still live after the final invoice unless someone removes it, so the contract should name the roles rather than say "access".
YouTube's channel permissions page lists Owner, Manager, Editor, Editor (Limited), Subtitle Editor, Viewer and Viewer (Limited); an Editor cannot manage permissions, and removing someone means selecting the person and choosing Remove. For Facebook and Instagram, Meta's Business Help Centre has a page on adding partners to your business portfolio and another on giving a partner access to business assets. The setup platform by platform is in never give your agency your password.
Term, notice period and the break clause
Agencies ask for 12 months because month one is setup and a long term makes the sale worth the onboarding. That is the agency's interest, and a fair one. Yours is being able to leave a team that is not working without paying for a year of it.
The compromise: a minimum initial term, say three months, then rolling month to month, with 30 days written notice either side. HeyOrca's guide uses 30 days as its own example, so you are asking the agency for a figure its own side has already published. Four details:
- Notice runs from the day you send it, not the next billing date.
- The notice period is the same length for both sides.
- No automatic renewal into a second fixed term without a fresh signature.
- A break clause for missed output: if the agreed count is missed two months running, you can end it on shorter notice.
What happens to unpublished and scheduled content when it ends
The exit is where this clause earns its place. On the last day there will be edits in progress, pieces approved but not yet posted, and a queue in a scheduler, and the order of events decides whether you get them. Written the wrong way round, the agency disconnects first and anything queued under its account goes with it. Where the queue lives and who can stop it is a handover question; the contract only has to fix the order.
Two sentences cover it. On termination the Agency delivers all completed and in progress work, including scheduled posts and their captions, within seven days. The Client removes access after delivery is confirmed.
Revisions, turnaround and what is not included
Revisions. How many rounds per piece and what a round is. One consolidated set of notes is a round; five messages over three days is also one round if the contract says so. "Unlimited revisions" usually means undefined.
Turnaround. From footage received to post live, in working days, with a note on what "received" means: uploaded to the shared drive, not sent on WhatsApp at midnight. A piece delivered on time and posted late is late, so the posting schedule belongs here too.
Exclusions. Shooting, ad spend, influencer fees, stock footage, music licensing, software seats and community management outside stated hours should each be named as in or out. A quote that blends filming with editing hides which part you are paying for.
Guarantees that should not be in writing, and the checklist to send back
Be wary of a contract that promises followers, views or reach. No agency controls a distribution algorithm, and a promise of numbers is either a wish or a plan to buy low quality audience that weakens your page. HeyOrca's guide tells agencies to state that specific results are not promised. What an agency can guarantee is output: pieces, schedule, standard, turnaround.
Send this back with the draft:
- Scope in published pieces per month, per platform, cross posts counted once, packaging included.
- Accounts stay in my name and under my recovery details; anything new is created under my details.
- Footage is mine; edits, captions, thumbnails and project files transfer to me on delivery.
- Access is delegated through platform roles to named staff, no passwords, removable by me.
- Initial term, then month to month, 30 days notice both ways, no automatic renewal into a fixed term.
- Handover of unpublished and scheduled content before access is removed.
- Revision rounds, turnaround in working days, and a named list of exclusions.
An agency that agrees to all seven is not doing you a favour. It is describing how it already works.
VALORAE Media edits short form, long form and thumbnails, then titles, captions, schedules and posts them on the client's channels, across three packages: Edit, Manage and Full Page. We never shoot. Accounts stay in the client's name, access is delegated through platform roles and removable by the client, and every file we make is the client's on delivery. Pricing depends on volume, so the way to get a number is a short call, booked at /contact.html#book.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 12 month social media contract normal?
Treat it as the agency's ask rather than a norm: a long term covers the setup month and makes the onboarding worth doing. Twelve months is defensible when it comes with a break clause after an initial period, say three months, on 30 days notice. Twelve months with no exit is a bet on a team you have not worked with yet.
What is a reasonable notice period for a social media agency?
Thirty days is the figure HeyOrca's guide uses as its example, and it works for both sides: long enough for the agency to wind down a schedule, short enough that you are not paying for months of work you no longer want. Check that the notice period runs from the date you send it, and that it is the same length in both directions.
Who owns the videos an agency edits from my footage?
You should, and the contract should say so in one line: edits, captions, thumbnails and project files assigned to you on delivery or on payment, whichever the contract states. Read the verb. An assignment is yours to keep; a licence can lapse or be withdrawn. It is fair for an agency to keep its own presets and methods, but that should not extend to your finished pieces.
What if the contract has none of these clauses?
Do not treat a short contract as a friendly one. Write out the points that are missing, ask for them as an addendum or as an email the agency confirms, and keep that alongside the signed copy. An agency that will not put ownership, access and exit in writing is telling you how the exit will go.
Want us to run the page as well as edit the videos?
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