Creator Media Kit: What to Include and How to Make One

A creator media kit is a one or two page summary that tells a brand who you are, who watches you, what your content does and how to hire you. The best ones answer a brand's first five questions in under a minute: what is your niche, who is your audience, how engaged are they, what have you made before, and how do I book you.

You do not need a big following to need one. Brands are moving money toward smaller creators, and they are getting stricter about proof. In Influencer Marketing Hub's 2026 benchmark survey, more than half of brands plan to expand work with nano and micro creators, and fake or bot followers were the single biggest quality problem they reported. A clear, honest media kit is how you get through that filter.

This guide covers exactly what to put in your media kit in 2026, which numbers matter, whether to include rates, how to build one step by step, and whether to send a PDF, a link or both.

What is a creator media kit?

A media kit is your sales sheet as a creator. A brand manager or agency uses it to decide, quickly, whether you fit a campaign and what you will cost. It is not a CV and it is not a portfolio of everything you have ever posted. It is a short, curated case for working with you.

Brands look at a lot of creators. In the same Influencer Marketing Hub survey, two thirds of respondents run influencer marketing entirely in-house, which usually means one or two people vetting dozens of profiles. A media kit that puts the right facts in the right order saves them time, and that alone makes you easier to say yes to.

Those three numbers explain the job your media kit has to do. Brands want more small creators, they have more money for them, and they are worried about fake audiences. Show them a real, engaged audience that matches their customer, and you are already ahead of most pitches in their inbox.

What should a media kit include?

Keep it to six sections. Each one answers a question a brand will ask anyway, so you might as well answer it before they do.

The intro: one sentence that sells

Your intro should name your niche and your audience in a single line. "I make 30-second skincare routines for women in their 30s with sensitive skin" tells a brand far more than "lifestyle creator and coffee lover." If you have one standout credential, such as a qualification, a viral series or a well-known past partner, put it here.

The audience section: match their customer

Brands buy audiences, not follower counts. Show the split that matters to the kind of brand you want: age range, top countries or cities, and gender. If 70% of your audience is in the US and the brand only ships to the US, say so. If your audience skews to one city, that is a selling point for local brands and events.

Best work: results beat aesthetics

Pick three to six examples and add one line of proof under each: views, link clicks, saves, or the number of people who used your code. If you have not done paid work yet, use your best organic posts and frame them as "this is what I would make for you." Our guide to turning your link in bio into a portfolio shows how to display samples so brands can watch them in one tap.

Which numbers should you put in a media kit?

Lead with engagement rate. It tells a brand how many people actually react to what you post, and it is the number where small creators beat everyone else. Follower count goes in too, but it is context, not the headline.

Engagement rate is usually calculated per post as interactions divided by followers, multiplied by 100. Socialinsider, which publishes widely used benchmarks, counts likes and comments on Instagram, and likes, comments, shares and saves on TikTok. Use the same formula across your platforms and say which one you used, so a brand can compare like with like.

Average engagement rate per post

TikTok, nano creators11.9%

TikTok, micro creators8%

TikTok, brand accounts2.6%

Instagram, nano creators2.19%

Instagram, brand accounts0.48%

The gap is the point. A nano creator on TikTok often gets several times the engagement of a brand's own account. If your rate is above these benchmarks, put it on the first page of your kit and name the benchmark next to it.

Numbers that help, and numbers that hurt

• Include: engagement rate, average views per video (last 30 days), reach, saves and shares, audience location and age, link clicks from your bio.
• Include if strong: story views, average watch time, email list size, past campaign results.
• Leave out: lifetime totals that hide a recent drop, single viral outliers presented as averages, and any number you cannot back up with a screenshot.

Should you put your rates in your media kit?

Usually not as a fixed price list. Rates depend on the format, the number of deliverables, the timeline and, above all, how the brand wants to use the content afterward. A fixed number in a PDF can undercut you on a deal that includes paid ad usage or exclusivity.

The better approach is one of these two:

• "Starting at" prices for each format, such as "Reels from $X," with a line saying usage rights and exclusivity are quoted separately.
• A separate rate card you send once a brand shows interest, tailored to the brief.

To set those numbers, use current market data. Lumanu's analysis of $420 million in creator payments found an average of $1,429 per Instagram deal, $2,049 on TikTok and $2,228 on YouTube, with Instagram Reels averaging $3,618. Those averages include big creators, so tier data is more useful when you are starting out. Nowadays Media's 2026 Instagram rates, based on more than $17 million in placed spend, look like this:

Source: Nowadays Media, Instagram Influencer Rates 2026. Usage rights, exclusivity and whitelisting add 30% to 200% on top.

If you also sell user-generated content, list it as its own service. UGC is priced on production, not audience, so it follows different rules. Our UGC rates guide covers that, and negotiating usage rights explains how to price ad usage without leaving money on the table.

How do you make a media kit? Step by step

1. Pull your last 30 days of analytics. Screenshot audience demographics, reach, views and engagement from each platform's native tools. Save them in one dated folder.
2. Calculate your engagement rate. Use the same formula on every platform, and note it in small text under the number.
3. Choose 3 to 6 examples. Pick work that matches the brands you want next, and add one result under each.
4. Write your intro and services. One line on who you are and who you serve, then a short list of what you offer.
5. Design one clean page. Use a simple template with your colors, a clear photo and plenty of white space. Export it as a PDF under 5 MB so it sends easily.
6. Publish a live version. Put the same information on a page you can update, and link it from your bio and email signature.
7. Set a monthly reminder. Refresh your numbers and swap in new work on the first of each month.

PDF or link: which media kit format works best?

Both, for different moments. A PDF is what a brand forwards to a colleague or attaches to a campaign brief. A link is what you put in your bio and your pitch emails, because it is always current. Here is how the common options compare.

Beacons features from its pricing page, October 2026.

Whatever you choose, make the path from "interested" to "in touch" short. A brand that likes your work should be one tap away from a contact form or your business email.

What does a good media kit look like for different creators?

The six sections stay the same. What you lead with changes with your niche and what brands in that niche buy.

Beauty and skincare creators

Lead with tutorial and routine content, close-up product shots and any results from discount codes or affiliate links. Beauty brands care about skin type, age and location, so put that audience split up front. See our link in bio setup for beauty creators for how to pair it with your shop links.

Fitness and wellness creators

Lead with your training style and audience goals, and show examples where people followed your program or used your code. Average views on your workout videos often matter more than follower count.

UGC creators with a small audience

Your kit is a portfolio first. Replace the audience section with a services list (formats, video lengths, hooks, raw footage) and show your best three ads. Brands are buying your production, not your reach. Our UGC creator vs influencer guide explains the difference.

Musicians, podcasters and YouTubers

Lead with listens, downloads or average views per video, and the audience's location. Add upcoming release or tour dates if a brand could sponsor around them.

What are the most common media kit mistakes?

• Too long. Ten pages of photos and backstory. Keep it to one or two.
• Stale numbers. A kit from last year with last year's follower count. Date your stats and refresh monthly.
• No proof. Claims with no screenshots and no results under your examples.
• Vanity over fit. Total followers up top, audience location buried at the end.
• Hard to contact. No business email, or a contact page that takes three taps to find.
• Missing disclosure history. If past sponsored posts were not labelled, fix that habit now. The FTC expects clear disclosure on every paid or gifted post, and brands notice.

How do you send your media kit to brands?

Do not lead with the attachment. Lead with a short, specific pitch: one line on why you fit this brand, one idea for content, and one proof point. Then link your live media kit and attach the PDF. Our brand pitch email templates give you wording that works, and how to land your first brand deal covers who to pitch first.

Give brands one live link

A PDF is a snapshot. Your link in bio is the version of your media kit that is always up to date, and it is already where brands look first when they find you on Instagram or TikTok.

A brand-ready page does a few simple things: it shows your best content playing in place, it links your PDF media kit and rate card, it makes contacting you a single tap, and it shows what you are working on now. For more ideas, see what to add to your link in bio.

Frequently asked questions