A media kit is a short document a creator or publisher sends to brands to show who their audience is, what their content looks like, what they have done before and what they charge. In influencer work it is often one to three pages or a single web page, and it usually includes a rate card: a price list for each type of post.
How a media kit works
A creator sends the kit when a brand gets in touch or when pitching for work. A useful one covers:
- Who they are: name, handles, niche and the kind of content they make.
- Audience: follower numbers per platform, plus the breakdown of where followers live, their age and gender, taken from the platform’s own insights.
- Performance: typical reach, views and engagement rate per post format, with the date range used.
- Past work: brands they have worked with and examples, shared only with those brands’ agreement.
- Rate card: prices for a feed post, Reel, Story set, TikTok video or package, and what is extra, such as usage rights or exclusivity.
- Contact details and how they like to be briefed.
Publishers and podcasts produce media kits too, setting out their readership or listenership and advertising options, but in social media marketing the term usually means a creator’s kit.
Why it matters
For a brand, the media kit is the first filter. It tells you whether a creator’s followers look like your customers before you spend time or money. For a UK brand, the share of the audience that is actually in the UK is often the single most important figure: a creator with a large following that is mostly overseas may reach few people who can buy from you.
The kit is a sales document, though, written by the person selling. Figures can be selective, rounded up or out of date. Treat it as a starting point for questions, not as proof.
For UK campaigns, rates should be in pounds sterling and say whether VAT is included. A creator registered for VAT will add 20% at the standard rate, which matters to a small business that cannot reclaim it, and quotes that leave this unclear cause disputes at invoice time.
Common mistakes
Brands and creators both slip up here:
- Accepting the kit’s figures without evidence such as recent screenshots of native insights.
- Looking at follower count rather than reach, views and audience location.
- Undated statistics, so you cannot tell whether they reflect this year or three years ago.
- Rates with no detail on revisions, usage rights, exclusivity or VAT.
- Listing brand names without those brands’ agreement, which can create trust and legal problems.
- Old kits sent unchanged after the audience or platform mix has shifted.
How to act on it
If you are a brand, ask every shortlisted creator for their media kit plus screenshots of their audience location and recent post insights from the last 30 to 90 days. Compare creators on cost per expected view or click, not on follower count, and confirm in writing whether quoted rates include VAT and usage rights. Fold the agreed figures into a contract.
If you are a creator, keep your kit to the essentials, date every figure and update it at least every quarter. State your rates in GBP, say whether VAT applies, and price usage rights separately from the post itself.
Media kits are one input when planning influencer marketing, which I help UK businesses fit into a wider plan through digital marketing strategy and consulting.