If you’re not already signed up for Influenster, by the end of this post, my goal is to have you either signed up on the website or have the app downloaded on your phone. Let’s start with the basics – what is Influenster? Influenster is a program where you can review products, read other people’s reviews and answer questions about different products, read about new product launches and much more. What is the benefit of reviewing products on Influenster? The fact that by doing so, you can qualify to be part of Vox Box Campaigns which means you get free stuff and everyone loves free stuff. The Vox Box campaigns aren’t small sample sizes either – you usually get a range of full size products that are new from different brands for testing purposes. These aren’t products that are still in the developmental stage – these are new product launches that you just get to try for free. Have I mentioned being signed up for Influenster is also free? What is not to love about that?

Basically the best way to go about it is to download the app and start reviewing products. The program has what is called “snaps” or quick questions that lead you to different products. For example, the snap may ask “Which of the following types of make up do you use on a daily basis? Select all that apply”. After that question it will ask what brands of mascara, lipstick, etc. you’ve used and from there it’ll lead you to specific products to review. You can also just type in a particular product in the search bar and review from there. Influenster doesn’t just focus on make up products – it has everything from dog food to fitness supplements to over the counter drugs ( Z-Quill was a Vox Box campaign several months ago). Some of the Vox Boxes I’ve received since being signed up on Influenster ( and I’ve been signed up since May of last year) have been a Covergirl Vox Box which included the Covergirl Super Size Fibers mascara and eyeliner, the Estee Edit Vox Box which featured 4 products from the new Estee Lauder brand, a “Summer Vox Box” that had everything from a Max Factor mascara and Not Your Mother’s hair products to tea and protein supplements, a Briogeo box that had shampoo, conditioner and a leave in curl cream and my most recent one the Lancôme Teint Idole Box which featured a foundation stick, concealer, lip gloss and highlighter. This isn’t even listing all the boxes I’ve gotten and that’s in less than one year’s time. Some of these boxes are valued over $100 and you’re getting everything completely free.

How do you know you’ve qualified for a campaign/Vox Box? If you’re a potential candidate for a Vox Box, Influenster will email you asking you to fill out a survey. This survey will ask questions about what kind of products you use and deem whether or not you’re a good candidate for the box. I suggest filling these surveys out as soon as you receive them. Also, don’t expect to qualify any time you receive a survey. You have to learn to be patient with Influenster. Just because you signed up today does not mean that you’ll qualify for a Vox Box tomorrow. In the 10 months I’ve been signed up, I’ve qualified for 6 boxes and I’m deemed the “highest” influence level. So don’t expect this to be like a monthly freebie box – be patient.

What to do when you receive a Vox Box? Once you receive the box you have to check it in (by scanning the barcode provided in the package) and look at what “tasks” there are to complete. Technically, you don’t have to do any of the tasks but I do think you are less likely to qualify for future campaigns if you don’t do any of the tasks. Some examples of tasks may include uploading a picture on Twitter or Instagram of your box, writing a review of the products on either the product website, Sephora, etc. Another reason to complete these tasks is that by doing so, you are entered to win more prizes from the brand that is “hosting” the campaign. I didn’t think much about this until I found out I won a prize from Briogeo for completing all my tasks and my prize was a $100 gift card for the Briogeo website. So not only did I get to try their full size shampoo and conditioner and curl cream for free, I also got to order a ton of stuff off their website to try out as well.

Connect your Social Media. I highly recommend connecting all possible social media to your Influenster account because the more you connect and the more people you can “reach”, the higher your Influence and the more likely you are to qualify for campaigns. You can connect your Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, WordPress, Youtube, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Google Plus account. For those wondering how WordPress affects your impact score – it is based on number of visitors per month. Influenster updates your score pretty frequently so if your number of followers is growing at a fast rate, you will still get the benefit of being signed up. You’re not “stuck” at the number of followers you had when you first signed up. Also, make sure you have completely filled out your About Me to let Influenster know your skin color/type, hair color/type and your main concerns such as dryness, frizz, etc.

Other campaigns: While not all campaigns are “Vox Box” campaigns, Influenster still allows you to try out some products by providing coupons. There are virtual Vox Box campaigns that will provide you with a coupon to print (and they will tell you where these coupons will work) to try out new products. If it’s something that you’re interested in trying or a product you’ve been eyeing, this is a good way to try it out. Another type of campaigns can be not associated with a specific product and ask you to make a wish list of your go-to summer/winter/ etc products, take some pictures and review some products and you may qualify to either get auto-entered into an upcoming Vox Box or you may qualify to win some prizes. Some recent campaigns have included going to Sephora to try out new Bumble&Bumble products and take before and after pictures to qualify to win a Sephora gift card.

Badges: Badges are what you receive once you’ve completed a campaign or answered all the questions in a certain category of the badges. You can go to your badges and look at what’s available (for example “foodie”, wellness guru, fashionista, etc.). These will help Influenster get to know you better and match you up for future campaigns.

Dashboard: Make sure you’re checking your dashboard often as campaigns may pop up without you receiving an email. The more you check your dashboard, the less likely you are to miss an opportunity to participate in a campaign. The campaigns that aren’t Vox Box based will pop up without notification and a lot of them are very simple and don’t ask for a lot of work on your part so they’re a great way to earn badges and win more prizes.

Other ways to qualify: Influenster will do Facebook and Twitter sessions as well that they will send out times for and if you log in and participate (by asking questions and just being interactive in general) you may be able to auto-qualify for the next Vox Box campaign. They have been using Instagram live recently as well to announce the winners and to announce the sessions so it’s definitely beneficial to follow the Influenster accounts on different social media.

Influenster YouTube Channel: Influenster has a YouTube channel which they use to announce Vox Box campaigns and give sneak peeks of what is coming in the boxes. They also post videos of how to use the products in those boxes and other how-to make-up and hair videos for products launching and out on the market. It can be a very useful channel for a make-up beginning who wants to learn how to use new products and for the make-up gurus who want to learn new techniques.

So those are all my tips and tricks for using Influenster. Let me know if you guys have any questions if you’re just starting out with Influenster and if you’re already a pro, let me know what other tips and tricks you personally have. You can use my referral link to sign up or just download the app or sign up on the website. As always, thanks for reading!

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