General Liability Insurance for Content Creators and Influencers

Posted December 21, 2023 in Liability Insurance

Content creation has revolutionized how people work: with seemingly endless possibilities for product promotion and an influencer for every niche interest, web-based business is one of the most lucrative fields to date.

With all the freedom content creators and influencers seem to have, it may be surprising that these businesses come with just as many risks as brick-and-mortar establishments. If you’re a content creator or influencer, some insurance policies can mean the difference between a lucrative career and a mess of legal complications. Keep reading to see how general liability insurance can help protect you and keep you doing what you love.

If you want to learn more about your business insurance options for content creators or purchase more coverage for your web-based business, contact the team at Gallant Risk & Insurance Services, Inc., in Southern California. Call us at (951) 368-0700 or complete our online contact form.

What Insurance Policies Do Influencers Need?

While influencing and content creation are fields that have great variation, there are usually a few elements that these individuals have in common: they typically work from home, and they are considered freelancers or sole proprietors of their businesses.

If you are a content creator, this distinguishes you from other work-from-home employees: you are your own boss and, therefore, are solely responsible for protecting yourself, your business, and your property from damage and risk.

One of the first mistakes many home-business owners make is thinking that their homeowner or renter’s insurance policies will cover them if something happens to their business operations. This simply is not true.

Homeowners insurance protects explicitly your home and property from damage via natural disasters or theft; even if you are running your business from your home, you will need a separate policy for any business assets, and web-based businesses are even more specifically vulnerable to risk.

General Liability Insurance

The first step in protecting your web-based business is to look into a separate policy from your homeowners insurance policy. You’ll want to dive right into business insurance policies. The most common policy for influencers or content creators will be general liability insurance.

General liability is the most common type of business insurance for small-business owners and freelance or self-employed individuals. This type of insurance can cover some of the most common risks that you may encounter, including:

• Bodily injury
• Property damage
• Products
• Personal injury
• Advertising injury
• Contractual liability

Your business may encounter very different types of risk that a typical business insurance policy may not cover, such as libel, copyright infringement, or false advertising. If you are promoting a product and a viewer has an issue or is harmed by said product and accuses you of false advertising, your general liability insurance policy may protect you.

Business Personal Property Insurance

While your homeowners insurance may cover damage to your home property, if it is used primarily for business purposes, you’ll need a business personal property policy to protect it.

For example, if you are filming from your home and your computer, lighting, or camera is damaged in a fire or flood, this equipment is used for your business, and therefore your business property policy–not your homeowners policy–can cover the damage.

Professional Liability Insurance or Errors & Omissions

This is crucial for influencers and content creators. Mistakes can happen with the amount of reach you have–sometimes millions of viewers–listening to your every word. This type of insurance covers legal liability against lawsuits from accusations of defamation, plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized use of titles and characters, libel, and slander.

It can be overwhelming when you think about the legal ramifications of what your words and actions carry. While it is essential to be mindful of what you say with such a large audience, it’s equally important to protect yourself if you accidentally do say the wrong thing. Errors & Omissions insurance protects you in the worst-case scenario.

Worker’s Compensation

Even though you aren’t under the umbrella of a large company or employer, you still need to protect yourself as a worker. Paying a small fee monthly for worker’s compensation protects you if you are unable to work. Worker’s compensation can help cover the cost of lost wages or medical care due to injury and cannot film or put out content for a period of time. You deserve protection just like any other worker, so be sure to invest in yourself.

Your Expert Business Insurance Consultants

Don’t sell yourself short; your business deserves protection just like any other.

Your policies will be as unique as your brand of content. To ensure you have coverage that fits your business, call Gallant Risk & Insurance today.