Now if you’re a blogger, it’s likely you’ve heard of the RewardStyle affiliate program and/or LIKEtoKNOW.it! These platforms allow for blogger to make a small commission off of the items bought through their links. It’s generally cents on the dollar, but anything is better than nothing! In this post I’m sharing 6 Easy Ways to Get Accepted to LIKEtoKNOW.it & RewardStyle.
I want to first just explain what each platform is, and how they both work. RewardStyle itself is the back end of LIKEtoKNOW.it! If you thought these were two different platforms, they kind of are, but not really. One feeds into the other and that’s how these apps are connected!
RewardStyle is where you LINK all of your products to a photo. LIKEtoKNOW.it is where people SHOP those items.
Once you link all of your products to a photo, you then take the photo with linked products and post it to various social media platforms! This is how your followers and other consumers alike will be able to FIND and SHOP your content. It’s a great way to make passive income as a blogger and also a great way to put what you like directly where your followers are looking.
6 Easy Ways to Get Accepted to LIKEtoKNOW.it & RewardStyle
What I’ve done with my photo above is one of the feature you can get through RewardStyle once you’ve been accepted! You can add this “Shop the Post” Widget which will show different items of your outfit for your readers to shop from. I generally have one in every blog post!
How I Got Accepted to RewardStyle
I first wanted to quickly explain how I got accepted! I applied last February and got rejected. That being said, I ever gave up on getting accepted! I kept working on keeping a cohesive feed, got my blog a new design, and then got a referral from a girl in one of my classes!
The first time I applied, I had only been creating content for about a month and a half. I had been posting consistently, but it wasn’t an extensive amount of content over an extended amount of time. I was referred at the end of February 2018, and got accepted the first week of March 2018!
Everyone’s process is different, but I want to give you a good foundation that will give you the best success for acceptance yourself. These RewardStyle application tips are ones that I found the most helpful when I was in the process of applying.
How to Get Accepted to RewardStyle
1. Make Sure Your Photos are Bright and Clean
This is the number one tip because it’s MOST IMPORTANT. Anytime someone reaches out to me after they’ve been denied, they ask for any tips. The main (easily fixable) problem I see is that their feeds aren’t consistent enough.
When I say consistent, I just mean that maybe their lighting isn’t consistent or that their photos aren’t really about one specific thing. Downloading the FREE Lightroom Mobile App and just upping the Exposure can immediately help with getting brighter photos!
When I say “clean” photos, I just mean make sure there isn’t a lot of stuff going on in the background. So, if you’re at Disney, maybe try to get a photo closer to the castle than directly on Main Street like the one below!
2. Have a Clear Niche
For those of you who may not be sure what a niche is, a niche in simplest terms is a “small, specialized section of the population.” When it comes to RewardStyle, the four main niches include: fashion, beauty, family, and home (lifestyle).
RewardStyle even has specific hashtags for each and specific pages for the fashion, home, and family! Make sure you establish yourself in one or two of these niches (I’m “Fashion + Lifestyle” but my Instagram is mostly fashion).
Start tagging LIKEtoKNOW.it in your hashtags and in your photos! Even if you aren’t accepted, they’ll see that you’ve established yourself in one of the above niches. This can greatly help your chances of acceptance!
3. Try to Create a Cohesive Instagram Feed
Now cohesive can mean a lot of things. You can be cohesive in the types of photos you take, in the colors you share in your feed, and even the style of photo you take! For me, I focus mostly on full-body photos of my outfits.
When I first started, I tried to create a cohesive feed off the bat. I made sure to throw tons of white spaces in my shots and made all of my colors flow for every nine shots I took! (This isn’t a must, but if you want to match colors, this is the best trick)
That being said, you can have a TOTALLY different style than this! Make sure your feed fits who YOU are as a brand. For me I like light and airy because that’s the vibe I want to exude through my feed!
If you look at my feed below, I always make sure to have white spaces in EVERY photo! Since it’s spring, I’ve also added in more greens as well. This makes them all look like they “fit” together even if the colors aren’t necessarily the same.
4. Create Consistent Content for (at least) 3 Months
This is a big one honestly. I think at one point RewardStyle wanted six months of consistent content, but now it’s around three! The more history the better though because they can see your growth.
When I first started out, I knew I needed to post consistently to get noticed.
I read A LOT of Pinterest articles on posting frequency, and trying to do one post a day is usually sufficient. Now, I KNOW this is hard to do. Right now I generally do 5-6 posts a week instead of all seven which is totally fine. Just show RewardStyle that you post often, and that you post great content.
5. Tag Fashion Brands in your Photos
Now RewardStyle isn’t ONLY a fashion and clothing affiliate program, but that’s the main category! Whether you’re a beauty influencer, lifestyle influencer, or fashion influencer, TAG THOSE BRANDS.
When I first started consistently blogging last year, I would look and see what larger bloggers did and do similar things myself.
For example, I saw that a lot of them would tag brands in their photos and then sometimes those brands would ask to repost them! The first brand that asked to repost me was Target using the hashtag #TargetStyle (and also tagging @targetstyle in the photo). They generally just add you under the hashtag on their website, BUT RewardStyle will see that brands are interested in you!
The picture below is one of the first I posted when I was starting out as a real blogger. I hadn’t purchased presets yet and I just used the Lightroom Mobile App to make my pics brighter. I also tagged brands in my photos, in the caption, AND used their hashtags.
6. Get Referred by a Current Member
This is another avenue to take! I have heard A LOT of people say that they’ve been denied from RewardStyle upwards of three times. That’s crazy to me! If you have a friend that was already accepted, have them refer you. This shows RewardStyle that you have a noted blogger who already uses their platform that thinks YOU are good enough.
It’s just an extra push if you’ve done all of the various tasks above! You may not have a friend who was already accepted and I LOVE to help others. If you think you’ve followed the other five steps above, head over to my coaching page and I will audit your Instagram as well as give you a referral! I’ll give you specific tips on your feed/content.
(Optional) 7. Make sure your blog relates
I put this as an optional seventh step because I know influencers who don’t even have a blog who have gotten accepted to RewardStyle. If you have a blog, make sure that it has a nice theme and that you have niche specific content!
I used to make some of my clothes so my first posts were DIY fashion items as well as posts on how to style various pieces. This fit with my niche of fashion and it was easy for RewardStyle to see how affiliate links could easily fit into my content.
Don’t fret if you don’t have a website or can’t afford one! Your Instagram will work fine too. Make sure to follow all the steps above and you’ll be good to go. Having great content does’t have to be blog specific!
PRO TIP: (If you don’t have a blog) On the RewardStyle application, make sure to add the https:// of your Instagram page in the “Blog URL” section.
What to Do Once You’re Accepted to RewardStyle?
I hope these tips helped you out if you’ve been trying to get accepted to RewardStyle! If you apply using these tips and get accepted, YAY CONGRATS!! That’s so amazing and I’m so happy for you.
It can be a bit overwhelming though! When I first got accepted there were soo many features and I’m STILL finding new ones. I also created a post on what to do once you’ve been accepted too! That way you’ll be off and ready to go. You can find that post on How to Successfully Use RewardStyle to Make Money (here)!
RewardStyle is one of the best fashion affiliate programs you’ll find! That’s the main reason I wrote this post. I want to help other women get accepted and be the boss babes that they’re ready to be. If you enjoyed reading this and finding out all these tips, I actually have a WHOLE page dedicated to all of my other blogging posts.
Ever since I started blogging, I’ve tried to add useful posts to help other bloggers as well. You can find that (here)! Feel free to head over to my home page and subscribe to my blog! Not ready to commit like that? Be sure to check out my other social media platforms below so you’ll stay up to date when I have new content.
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Thank you for sharing this!! I’m hoping to apply to rewardstyle in the next for months so this was super helpful!!
Ahh yay!! So glad this post helped <3
Loved this post. Thanks so much for putting it together. I’m new to all of this so it was very helpful!!
I’m so glad that it helped!
I think i am almost there. Just need some more consistent pots. It is really hard to get accepted I have been rejected 5 times already. So going to follow these steps and hope it works. thank you.
I hope these tips help and good luck!!
Such a helpful post!
I applied to Reward Style a little over 2 weeks ago! I haven’t heard anything back & was wondering if that is a normal amount of time to wait. I’m getting anxious!
Hi Lauren! It took me a little over a month to get approved. I wouldn’t worry!
Thank you this was super helpful. Can you do Rewards style just through fb goup page?
I would not suggest this as I believe it’s against the guidelines!
thank you so much Mandy, i’m fairly new to the whole blogging world and this post has really helped me out. I sent an application, and now we just wait and see!
Aww great! So glad my post helped!
Wow!! This was awesome advice, thank you! I just sent you a DM!! 🥰
So glad that you liked it!
This was great!
Thanks!
So glad that it was!
HI Mandy, thank you for this. It was all very helpful. I a rebranding from the travel niche into lifestyle for elegant women in the making and I am trying to figure out the best way to increase my traffic again. I want to join Mediavina (that is my top goal lately), so I am still trying to understand what type of content to create to attract traffic. Eventually I’d love to be a part of Rstyle too.
I’m so glad you liked this post and good luck! Also trying to get accepted to Mediavine!
Thank you so much for such a clear explanation. I’m also going to check out your blogging posts!
I’m so very glad it helped! Hope you love the rest of my blogging related posts!
Does it cost anything once accepted from liketoknowit? like does the app cost anything per week, per month, per year?
Nope not at all! Completely free!
Thanks for sharing this Mandy! That’s actually really interesting
Anytime! So glad you loved the post.
This was Verryyy helpful!! Thank you !
Anytime! So glad it was helpful!
I just got rejected from LTK today. I googled “how to get accepted to LTK” and I’m so glad it led me here. Thank you for the advice and for having such a positive outlook!
Awww!! I’m so happy my post helped! Good luck (:
Such great advice. Thank you for the real, practical tips!!
Of course! Anytime!
If you do get accepted to LTK do you still need to apply to other affiliate programs, for example Target or Amazon?
I applied about a month ago and got declined but I’ve been working hard at doing many of the things you listed above. Thanks for the helpful post
Hi Heather,
Yes you need to apply to others, but you can still link to Amazon and Target with RS! There’s just a different commission structure.
Thanks so much for sharing this! This was super helpful and one of the few articles that made things clear and simple. Hoping to eventually get accepted! I’m currently a freelance stylist/stay-at-home mom/army wife and after working in retail for years and doing personal/visual styling, I’m hoping to go the virtual route more since we’ve had to move around the world so much! My current friends/family/network purchase items from my Lookbooks that I send via pdf with links and current coupon codes to make ordering a breeze – I’ve always wanted to make a commission on those pieces and monetize that way, in addition to the styling fee. I’ll def be following you – your pics are beautiful – congrats on your success! xo
Instagram @seventhandclark
Hi Christina! You already seem like such an amazing influencer! Good luck with getting accepted!
Do you have to be on Instagram to get accepted into RS?
Thank you so much for the helpful post. So many great tips!
They ask for it in the application so I am going to say yes! And thank you <3