Influenster....Beginnings.

It's finally time to do something with this post. 

Influenster?

 I stumbled upon a post from a friend on Facebook one day and happened to be sucked into this website. I've been messing around with the site on and off since before Christmas to get a proper feel for it. Plus with a bum arm (we won't go there) I have some extra time on hand to mess around with things so I don't go completely insane.

It's a free to join website where you basically turn your social media happens to possible rewards by reviewing products from makeup to places to travel. You can also answer questions other Influenster's may have or even ask a question yourself. All in the interest of possibly be rewarded with free products from brands you love or may come to love once you give something a try and telling people about it through social media. 

See where I may have been sucked in? 

Free stuff and all I have to do is spam my Facebook and Twitter with my opinion? Yes please!

Though qualifying for rewards is a little tougher than it sounds. You're competing with every other member on the site for free goodies. 

Though, the site is very helpful if you're into researching anything you may be wanting to purchase or just plain curious about. And I do mean anything. 

Want to know what someone else's experience was with that fancy new gizmo you saw advertised? Odds are that it's somewhere on Influenster with reviews from people who thought it was amazing or not so much. Want to try a new snack? Yep, reviews for that too. Companies aren't dumb, they know that 99% of their business comes from consumer word of mouth. If you're best friend tells you not to buy something, because it's utter crap and they have valid points to why it's crap, you will generally steer clear of it. No matter what it is. 

But free stuff for you're opinion right?

Yes, but you need to be active on the site, and that doesn't mean filling out a million reviews in one day. Or you could, but the site does allow you to focus on what interests you the most. The site breaks things down your interests by having you unlock "Badges", such as Influenster Badge, Expert Badges, Lifestyle Badges, VoxBox Bages and Brand Badges. I'm not going to get into much detail with the badges, since the "About" section on the website explains it WAY better than I could. But it's pretty simple once you get the hang of things. Each Badge has little surveys to fill out and the more you do with them, the higher your badge score. The premise of this is to have a high badge score so you qualify for those free goodies. The site does take time to update your badge scores though, which is one of my only complaints. Unlike here...*cough* I'm more active on the site and I find it does take a while for the website to update.

Not only do you need to be active on the site itself, but you NEED to be active on other social media sites like, Facebook, Twitter and other major social sites. It helps to have a blog or Youtube channel where you blog or vlog about your points of interest. This is probably where I fail big time, since I can't remember to update anything in regards to social media. And even then, there no guarantees for free stuff. The website actually doesn't hide that fact either, which is nice. 

Any and all information is upfront about joining. There's no hidden fees or obligations to purchase anything. I found it was easiest to start with things I've used for years or places I've shopped at for years. As well as, things that I'm not so fond of. Honesty is key. 

So far I haven't qualified for any free things yet, which is okay. I'll keep myself occupied by periodically go through and leaving reviews and maybe even updating the blog for a change. 

All in all this site isn't bad. It's actually a bit of fun if you have some time to spare or if you do stuff like this for a living. I would recommend at least taking a looksy around the site, I've provided a little link thing below for you to click on if you do wish to. It'll take you to my Influenster profile and you can see what I've been reviewing, then go on to browse through the site.

Until next time I remember to update this blog.
Stay creative.