What you need to know about Like To Know It

Friends! Hi!

Are you so pumped it’s Friday? We don’t have any plans this weekend and I’m just so thrilled about it. Hopefully that will mean lots of chill time with our girlies… and Mexican. Always Mexican (insert praise hands emoji).

Ok so I have been meaning to write this post for a reeeeeally long time and I’m just now getting around to it. I know most of you are probably familiar with Like To Know It but some of you might just think of it as annoying scrambled letters that always end up at the end of my Instagram posts. Yeah, sorry about that. I’m here to answer your questions and just give you a basic understanding of what it is, why you might use it, and how I incorporate it as an integral part of my styling business.

I’ll go ahead and start with the basics so we can all be on the same page: Like To Know It is a service that you sign up for by giving your email and then any time you “like” a picture on Insta that’s affiliated with LTK, you will get in an email within a few minutes that contains all the items being worn in the picture in clickable links so if you want to buy it yourself, there it is! Takes you straight to the retailers site.

LTK just took things to the next level by introducing the app, which actually makes things even easier. Now you just take a screen shot and all the items in the picture appear in your app so you can find them there.

So maybe you’re wondering to yourself why bloggers and style influencers use this service. The reason is because LTK is what’s known as a monetization platform, which basically just means a way to be compensated. Back in the day, if you wanted to work with a stylist, you’d meet them at a store and the stylist would receive a commission from the retailer for whatever you bought. The stylist brought you to the store and gave you the ideas of what would look good on you, so a commission just makes sense. This way, everyone wins!

Another way to look at it: Say you walk into Nordstrom and you see a model wearing a blazer, stripe tee, distressed denim, and some cute sliders. You ask a store associate where the sliders are located. Once you get to the right department, someone helps find your size and might even give a few recommendations of how you could style the shoes. You go to the checkout counter and someone rings up your purchase. You pay and leave. Every single person involved in your purchase is compensated. You wouldn’t expect any of those people to work for free because they’re all playing some role in the transaction. Like To Know It helps to ensure that the stylist is compensated for their part in the transaction. Without this platform, the influencer would be totally missed in the process of compensating for involvement in the transaction.

LTK really is the modern day version of hiring a stylist. Rather than meeting at a store, you follow along on social media. You see something you love, you make a purchase, and the stylist/blogger/incfluencer gets a commission. It’s really a great set up!

Not only does the LTK platform make it so easy for you to find what you’re looking for, but it sets up a system that rewards all those involved.

Ok, now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s hit on some frequently asked questions:

Why Can’t I Click on the “link” in your instagram?

When I say I am “linking” an item, it doesn’t actually mean it’s a hyperlink that you can click on to take you directly to the site. Instagram doesn’t allow that. What I’m really doing is answering the “Where’d you get that” question before it’s even asked. All the seemingly jumbled up letters at the end of my instagram posts are just necessary for the back end portion of LTK. So the “links” are actually just enabling the photo to work with LTK. The purpose is really just to let you know that what I’m wearing is ready to view and shop if you’re signed up with LTK.

Why Don’t You Just Tell Us Where It’s From?

Ok, so this one is something I get asked about a lot. I know people are well-meaning when they say “where did you get this top” but what I think most people don’t understand (and rightfully so!) is alllllll the work that goes into not only putting together these looks, but also linking up every single item. This is a very time consuming process. I don’t say that to complain, but just to educate that a lot more goes into this than just taking an ootd and posting a picture. I’ve tried to make the process of letting you know about what I’m wearing as easy as possible. Using LTK isn’t just for my benefit, but it makes it so much easier for you as the consumer to be able to find exactly what you’re looking for without any of the guess work.

So if you ever feel like a blogger is being sassy when they respond to your “where’d you get that?” with “I linked it all”, it’s really just our attempt at saying “Hey, I did all the work for ya to try to make it easy!” I do realize that sometimes people can’t get their LTK to work and I’m always willing to do whatever I can to help you find what you’re looking for. I just hope you know from the bottom of my heart that it’s never ever my intention to make this process more difficult for you! It’s actually just the opposite!

What If I Don’t Wanna Sign Up With Like To Know It?

I have a place on my blog under Shop My Looks where you can easily find links to whatever I’m posting without having to sign up for anything. I was a user of LTK before I was even in the blogging/styling world and I always loved it, but I totally understand that some people just don’t like signing up for things. So this way you should be able to get all the info you need.

I hope this answers some of the questions you’ve had about Like To Know It! If you’d “Like To Know” (sorry, couldn’t help myself) anything that I didn’t cover, please comment and I’ll answer you there!

I know I say this a lot but I just hope you know how much I truly appreciate every single one of who follow on insta, read my blog, like, comment, and just show up to support this dream of mine. You guys really are the BEST!

All my love!