Mommy Tip: Splurge on New Products for Free {Smiley360}

Last month, I wrote the first post in a series about how to get new products for free! If you missed it, make sure you jump over and read about my favorite product review site: Influenster!

I was so excited to hear from several of you who have decided to give product reviewing a try! Thank you for leaving comments or dropping me messages on FaceBook. I love knowing I've helped other moms who might have more time than money (like I do!) I know I've been thrilled to try some products that I otherwise never would have had a chance to try!

Today, I'm going to introduce you to Smiley360. Smiley360 is another product review site that I've been a member of for over a year. While this isn't my favorite site, I want to make sure that you have a chance to hear about all of them so that you can make an informed decision about which sites you'd like to try.

And don't forget: You don't have to be a blogger to participate in these! :)

A Brief Overview of Smiley360

Smiley360 offers opportunities to review individual products. Unlike Influenster, you won't get a box with 4-5 different products, but it's still fun to get a package with one product and occasionally coupons!

There are no particular themes to what they offer. Smiley360 works with different brands, so they offer a range of products that are individual to their campaigns.

So how does Smiley360 work?

The nice thing about Smiley360 is that you don't have to apply and wait on an acceptance email. You just sign up, fill out a little info, and you are ready to start receiving emails in your inbox. Free and easy!

Once you sign up, you will want to do two things: finish filling out your profile and accept your first Smiley Mission.

1. Filling out your profile lets Smiley360 know who you are and what campaigns will best fit you and your family. Once your profile is complete, you will earn "smiles" for it. (I'll explain "smiles" in a minute.)
2. Your first Smiley Mission consists, quite simply, of announcing to your social media friends and followers that you are part of Smiley360 and would love for them to join you over there. For each social media share or other action that you complete in a mission, you will earn more "smiles."

What are these "smiles" that you keep talking about? "Smiles" are the currency that Smiley360 runs on. They will send you email when a campaign might be a good fit. You can apply for it if you are interested, and then they look at the applicants' status and smiles to decide who actually gets to participate. The more "smiles" you have, the better. They see "smiles" as an indication of your influence and follow through on previous campaigns.

There are also five status levels. Get that first Smiley Mission out of the way, and you are already bumped to level 2! You will continue up the status later as you accumulate smiles and finish missions.

Smiles + Status = More Campaigns!

Once your profile is complete and your first Smiley Mission is underway, watch your email for invitations to apply for more campaigns. They will also occassionally send invitations for twitter parties or links to extra coupons. Personally, I'm not a big twitter party person, so I tend to skip those, but I do try to apply for all of the campaigns that might relate to my family.

Applying for a campaign will require you to log into your Smiley360 account and fill out a survey. If your answers match what they are looking for, they will tell you to watch your email for whether or not you are accepted into the mission. Remember to fill out the survey honestly, as your honest opinion is exactly what they are looking for.

If you are accepted into the Mission, they will put your box in the mail!

Campbell's Slow Kettle Style Soup Smiley Mission. It came with coupons and a bonus pair of knee socks!

The fun part begins when your box arrives!
Once your product arrives, you can begin testing it. Smiley360 will give you a set of optional tasks that you can do to earn smiles in your mission.

My suggestion? Do as many as possible. Remember that the more smiles you earn, the better your chances of getting into future missions. There is also the fact that the brands are supplying you with free product in exchange for your opinion and help letting your friends know about it. Play fair, and they will be fair back!

So what are your personal thoughts on Smiley360?
Here's the deal: One of my responsibilities as a blogger is to always, always be honest and truthful with my readers. So with that being said, I'm going to give you my flat out opinion about this program.

I have been disappointed in the number of campaigns that are offered to me as compared to the other product review sites that I participate in. In the more than 18 months that I've been a member, I'm only been accepted to one Campbell's Kettle Soup campaign, and two Advil campaigns. Granted, I've enjoyed getting to know those brands, but I was hoping for something more. I mean, when you are getting Ghirardelli Chocolate, and Transformer toys through the other sites, you are used to the bar being set pretty high!

With that being said, I'm still a member of Smiley360 because I like the items that I do get to review. Because I know that the offers are few and far between, and that I only get accepted to about 1/3 of the ones I apply for, I choose to spend the majority of my time on the other two sites.

Would I recommend that you join Smiley360? Yes, with the hope that you will do so in addition to one or both of the other sites. I think you will have the most fun with product reviewing if you do it that way.

And finally, a reminder:
By agreeing to receive a product, you are agreeing to review it. If you can't or don't want to review it, it's important that you turn it down. I've turned down campaigns before and it hasn't hurt my chances of future campaigns. The companies would much rather you just say "no" up front, than send you a box and not get your feedback in return.

In other words, treat the companies fairly, and they will treat you fairly in return!

Sure, the products are free, but nothing is ever truly free. You are essentially bartering your time for their product. Keep that in mind, and you can't go wrong.

Do you participate in any product review companies? Does

this seem like something that you might want to try?

This post contains referral links. If you sign up for Smiley360 using the link, I get an extra smile. No other compensation was given for writing this post. I just want to help fellow mamas out!