Fifty-two seconds – that’s the average amount of time people spend reading a blog post. If you’re a blogger or an influencer reading this article, perhaps that’s something you already know. But before you scroll on, let me ask you a question (one blogger to another): do you understand the importance of professional indemnity insurance?
In all probability, the answer is yes – after all you’ve landed on this website. It’s important to know why taking out indemnity insurance is a must for today’s content creators; what are the risks you face in this rapidly expanding industry and, even more importantly, how can you protect against them? Let’s dig in…
WHAT RISKS DO BLOGGERS FACE?
In the world of online blogging and vlogging, your reputation is everything. The followers you amass are key to your success, but it doesn’t take much for things to go amiss. A single tweet or misplaced photo, for example, can quickly get you into hot water.
Before you know it, you have lost sponsorship deals and product placement requests are no longer falling in your lap. Worst of all, your hard-earned followers don’t take you seriously. In fact, you’re no longer living the dream – you are out of pocket and living a nightmare as you could face legal claims of:
- professional negligence
- misinformation
- intellectual property infringement
- contract disputes
Naturally, for the highest earning bloggers, there’s a lot at stake. According to Forbes, the 50 richest influencers earned a combined total of $720 million, with the most successful making $85 million alone.
For the majority of bloggers, Influencer Marketing Hub reveals that around half of all digital creators earn £12,000 or less a year, which means that any income you lose in legal fees or paying out compensation, will hit even harder.
WHAT DOES INSURANCE FOR BLOGGERS COVER?
Thankfully, influencer insurance is specifically designed for today’s bloggers and digital content creators. It protects your reputation with cover for all kinds of social media activities from Instagram to TikTok, as well as the written word.
That way if you make a mistake or omission in your work, or perhaps you don’t get the agreed number of views or likes for a sponsored post, you won’t be left worrying about legal claims.
Perhaps you gave financial advice in a post, for example, but incorrect information led a reader to suffer monetary losses, resulting in a negligence claim. Or maybe you used an unlicensed photo from another website, leading to a copyright infringement claim by the photographer.
Rather than compensating the injured party out of your own pocket, your policy provider will hire a legal team to defend you and settle the claim on your behalf. Your policy should cover any legal costs and potential settlements, which ensures financial security and peace of mind, so you can focus on your feed.
As you can imagine, blogger’s insurance is particularly valuable for those who monetize their platform through sponsored reviews, product marketing or product placement. With higher income and multiple contracts in place simultaneously, you’ll face increased exposure to potential disputes – and have more to lose if things go wrong.
IS INDEMNITY INSURANCE ENOUGH FOR BLOGGERS?
Vital as it is, professional indemnity insurance for influencers might not cover all your needs and there are various additional risks you may want to consider separately:
Defamation insurance
Issues such as defamation, for example, can be particularly costly if things go wrong. Take the example of political blogger, Mike Sivier, for instance, who had to pay damages of £50,000 in 2022 when he lost a defamation case against TV presenter, Rachel Riley, regarding comments on his blog.
Just like any media professional, bloggers are at risk of defamation lawsuits and the comments you pen for your latest post could cause trouble if individuals or organisations disagree with them. Fortunately, defamation insurance protects you if you are sued for damaging someone’s reputation through your posts, reviews, or social media commentary.
Cyber liability insurance
With so much of your professional life online, it’s a good idea to consider the digital risks to which you could be exposed. A data breach that exposes user information, or malware infecting visitors through your site, for example, could result in serious fallout, not to mention the financial losses from downtime caused by any form of cyberattack.
Cyber insurance helps by covering costs such as legal fees, data breach notifications, restoring lost data, and repairing systems after a cyberattack. It offers financial and legal protection to minimise the impact of cybersecurity incidents on bloggers and their digital operations.
Public liability insurance
Finally, you might think blogging from your laptop is unlikely to lead to slips, trips or accidents, but public liability insurance should still be on your radar. If you participate in any kind of live events, workshops, or influencer meetups, for example, public liability insurance can protect you against claims arising from accidents or negligence that could occur during these activities.
ASK THE INSURANCE EXPERTS
If this blog post has given you food for thought, you’ll understand the importance of taking out appropriate insurance to protect your work and business interests, particularly if you are making an income from your blog.
Despite the online nature of blogging, it can still be a risky business, so it’s a good idea to make sure your insurance covers all your needs. Check the policy wording to ensure that it provides protection against legal and reputational risks that can result in financial loss and consider whether you also need to take out any additional cyber liability or defamation insurance.
For personalised advice and a tailored insurance solution, contact OBF Insurance. Our experts can organize a custom insurance package to safeguard your business as a blogger, protecting all aspects of your work, reputation and finances.
