Amber Wins Contests

This is overdue but wanted to let you all know some accounts to follow for giveaways! November was busy, but I did win four giveaways and have some tips to help you find giveaways and win. 1. @tiedyeismylife on Instagram gave away a couple little paint pouring canvases she made. I’ve been looking more at #artgiveaway to find unique handmade pieces to decorate my apartment. Check her and the hashtag out! 2. @classickimberz on Instagram gave away the book The Age of Turmoil by Bronson Mullens along with a $15 Starbucks gift card. I love books and hope to get a chance to read this one during the holidays. I found this one by checking out #starbucksgiftcard on Instagram which is great for finding small accounts giving away gift cards to Starbucks. 3. @heuserandheuser_law gave away a $10 Starbucks gift card on Instagram. They give away a lot of these in regular posts. They often post a photo and a couple facts about a location in Colorado and you just have to be the first one to answe

Welcome back to my monthly post where I recap what giveaways I won this month. Overall, October was kind of slow but the prizes were good. 1. @delmontefresh gave away hundreds of banana suits and I won one. Here is my super cute boyfriend modeling it. Stephen, this is a test to see if you read my blog. 2. @girlgangthelabel has been killing on Instagram lately with the giveaways. I got a $20 gift card by sharing their post to my story.  3. And a few days later I got another $20 gift card from @girlgangthelabel for commenting on their post. These gift cards did expire but I used each one to buy a cute mug which had free shipping. I posted the below photo on Instagram with the caption “Does anyone else think @sarablakely would like one of these mugs?” because she always posts photos with empowering mugs and SHE LIKED AND COMMENTED ON MY PHOTO. She’s the founder of Spanx and a total Girl Boss and wow I want to be her.  4. @poshnebraska has started doing $10 gift card

Welcome back to your favorite, regularly scheduled blog about what I've won this month. I won a lot of earrings this month, so I need to stop entering earrings giveaways unless they're super cute. 1. @ladybulldogdm is a new boutique based here in Iowa, and I won a $15 Starbucks gift card! She has been repeating this giveaway weekly, so go give her a follow now! 2. @dylanrose_jewels and @worshipworthy gave away a cute snakeskin pouch and gold earrings. I love this style of earring that clips in the back because I hate statement earrings that poke your head right behind your ear. 3. @heuserandheuser_law on Instagram has a weekly Find It Friday. I won September 13th but they didn't respond right away so I'm expecting a surprise in the mail... 4. @shopmissmandarina on Instagram gave away a cute pair of clay earrings. I chose black so they would match almost everything. 5. @hazelry.handmade gave away a pair of tassel earrings and a cute engraved necklace. I wor

Since starting Amber Wins Contests a mere six months ago, I’ve seen a lot of people follow in my footsteps and also create accounts so that they could enter giveaways without annoying their friends and family on their real accounts. So today, I will share some reasons why you should or shouldn’t make an account for giveaways. When I saw the first person make an account for giveaways right after me, I was a little offended. How could she just steal my genius idea ? Luckily, I then remembered that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery which is good because I’ve seen many people make giveaway accounts since then. Do it: 1. You won’t annoy your friends when you tag them in  another earring giveaway. 2. You won’t be as worried about your profile’s aesthetic and instead will repost to your feed without a care in the world and rake in those bonus entries. And you'll have no worries about anyone unfollowing you for posting so many giveaways. 3. You can also share to your s

Ah yes, my monthly post where I share what I won over the past month. Personally, I had a lot going on. I moved into a new apartment, took a five day trip to San Antonio to watch my brother graduate Air Force basic training, and started my MBA, so I was not entering many contests this month. However,  I still had a few winnings. 1. If you've been following @stickermule you know that they recently wrapped up 100 days of giveaways. And in those 100 days, I won something! Some of their days had more than one winner, so I made sure to enter those. I won a free order of sheet labels (fancy stickers) worth $56. If you're following me on Instagram, you'll know that I actually gave these away (my first giveaway!). 2. @dermala had an Instagram contest with three winners. One of those winners must have not followed the rules or responded quickly enough because I was able to get a free package of their acne wipes worth $40. These were super handy when traveling to Texas. 3. I

Since I had a slow month of winnings (which I will be sharing later, in case I win something last minute lol), I decided to share some of what my friends have won this month! Since creating this blog and Instagram account, I've gotten a few people hooked. Even people who were skeptical at first (@ you Sophie ;)) 1. @rach.waldo is killing it. I haven't seen her in person in over two years, but she said she's been telling friends about my account. She won a $150 gift card to @mvstselect, 2 beauty products of her choice from Elixir Cosmetics, and @Veloni eyebrow fortifier. I'm pumped because I tagged her in the luggage giveaway, sent her the Elixir Cosmetics contest, and had posted about the Veloni contest. She is a True Fan of my account, and I appreciate the support. 2. @elvivi_o has learned so much she's been finding and winnings contests that I haven't even seen. She won a $5 Starbucks gift card from Brava podcast, a Raw Sugar Living bath set (shampoo, co

I'm a fairly frugal person and love getting good deals. However, there are some things that I've decided I'm never buying again because I can win them instead. Statement earrings- Now this is something I love to win, so keep on tagging me, but this is also something I never need to purchase again. I've won SEVEN pairs of earrings since mid-March. I won a subscription for statement earrings. I do not need to purchase any more and I need you guys to keep me honest.  Skincare products- There are so many people out there posting about makeup and skincare and they have a lot of products to give away. Recently, I won  Puriface Hydrogel Face Wash which can easily be purchased through Amazon if you're looking to buy. They actually sent me a link to it on Amazon which makes it look like a lot of people are purchasing it. So if someone were perusing skin care products on Amazon, their product would likely show up higher in the search results and more sales gives them mo

My favorite part of the month is when I take a look at what I've won recently. June was a great month for me but July slowed down a little bit. However, I did decide I need to stop entering contests for things I don't even want. Overall I won 8 contests with a total value of about $350-$370 (I'm still waiting to find the exact value of one prize). Most of these were just on Instagram where you follow and tag a couple friends, one was on Facebook, and one was on Twitter. 1. @mhsweeth sent me three of their homemade candles in their most popular scents. One of them was Fruit Loops scented and it smelled like a freshly opened box. The candles were worth $24 and I'm so excited for all the scents. 2. @earthflower_herbs was giving away tea on Instagram and so few people entered that everyone one! I got a package of their Kombuchai tea worth $13. I have not tried it yet, but I think I'll end up sharing some with my roommate. 3. @puriface was giving away face wash

I recently started doing monthly winnings posts about different giveaways that I've won. Here is my June recap. June was a huge month for me in terms of winnings. Less than four months ago, I started my Instagram account @amberwinscontests and have learned a lot in such a short amount of time. I'm now spending less time searching for contests, entering less than when I began, and winning more. I've learned what contests are worth entering and which contests I should just keep scrolling past. So without further ado, here is what I've won this month. 1. @blondedbybeauty and @envycbd's contest on Instagram to win body lotion and face cream from Envy CBD. From their website, these two products are worth $75 which I would probably never spend. My face gets super dry and I've been using their face cream and it works waaaaayyyyy better than the moisturizer I had been using. I definitely recommend checking them out if you're looking for some new products. 2.

May was a pretty good month for winnings and my most successful month so far in terms of quantity of contests won. Personally, I was taking finals, graduating, moving, and starting a new job so I didn't think I would have much time to spend entering contests. However, I had a couple weeks between graduation and work when I was entering at least 10 contests per day. The first prize I won was a pair of Beats EP headphones from @the_passport_office on Instagram. I was not expecting this because you were only allowed to enter once. But when they contacted me, they said they had tried contacting two other winners who didn't respond in time. So to those strangers who didn't check their DMs soon enough, thank you for the Beats. Up next I won a couple custom corgi stickers from @taitothecorgi on Instagram. They were picking 15 winners so I knew my odds were pretty good. Then I won a $50 Amazon gift card from @armedforcesproxymarriages on Instagram. Total entries were on

My ideal contest contains as few steps as possible. Following, possibly liking, and tagging someone in the comments. That's it. Short and sweet. Easy as pie. However, I've recently seen a trend that is making one of those steps way longer than it needs to be. There are accounts popping up giving away great prizes IF you are willing to follow the 40+ accounts they are following. For me, that's just not worth it. Sure going down the list and following everyone won't really take that much time, but when your odds are low to begin with, IT'S NOT WORTH IT. You may be asking yourself, how are they giving away such great prizes? Think a $500 gift card to Amazon or designer bags or all expense paid trips to Bali. These things are expensive. I believe that the 40+ accounts they are following all chip in some amount of money to be added to the list. A $500 Amazon gift card divided among 40 people is only $12.50 per person. When you think of how many followers the

I thought I'd write a short post about my winnings from April to let you all know! I actually only won one thing this month, but it was still exciting! I won these earrings from Elsie + Louise on Facebook and I'm wearing them right now and love them.  All I had to do was like and comment on their post for a chance to win and they picked two winners! I definitely recommend checking them out because I've seen them do multiple giveaways, and your odds seem pretty good.  The best part? They let me choose which earrings I wanted. I picked these silver and blue because they'll match a lot of what I normally wear.  As for May? Well, I've already won one contest today and it's only the first of the month. 

Do you find yourself entering lots of contests without winning anything? Maybe you're entering the wrong contests. Most contests can fall into one of two categories. Random or efforts-based. Many people enter a lot of random contests with poor odds and don't win anything. Ever. Random contests include those that say "Share this and tag 3 friends" or "Enter your email for a chance to win" and can have a really large number of entries because they're so easy to enter. Efforts-based contests are exactly what they sound like. They involve more effort than just tagging a couple friends. These include contests where you have to get the most likes, guess the number of something in a jar, or be the first one to respond. Efforts-based contests is where I win most. The more effort involved, the fewer people who enter. If the prize is good enough, it's worth your time. This is where I won my iPad Pro, my Oreo sweater, a hammock, multiple gift cards,

In a past post , I mentioned that some contests are not worth entering. It can be for a variety of reasons usually that your odds of winning are super low, meaning you are wasting your time. So here is how to find some "good" contests to enter. 1. Follow #giveaway. This is something that I did when starting to help me find a lot of contests. They don't always have the best odds, but you can find plenty of contests with less than 100 entries which are GREAT to enter. 2. Follow your favorite small businesses. Plenty of small businesses host giveaways to increase their followers. Your odds are great in these, so check if your hairdresser, favorite boutique, or local restaurant has a Facebook or Instagram. 3. Find people online who enter a lot of contests. Let them know they can tag you in contests which will increase their odds and help you find plenty of contests. For the first month of my Instagram account (@amberwinscontests) I spent my time looking up a bunch of

People often ask how I find out about contests and it honestly varies quite a bit. Recently, I've been combing through #giveaway on Instagram and have been able to find some good contests. That is how I found a video of a man (@robvelez) with a large stack of cash who said that whoever could guess the amount could have it with up to 3 people splitting it.  This was a bit different than other contests because there was no set end time. I made two guesses, screenshotted the post, and went on with my day.  I later saw in his story that no one had guessed it and he gave a hint. It was all singles. If I had not checked his story, I would not have known.  Still no one could guess.  The next morning I saw he had posted in the past 45 minutes or so that it was between $400 and $500 and someone was only $1 away.  So naturally, I went all in.  I made a list on my iPad of the guesses between $400 and $500 and started making guesses that were $1 away from the others

Imagining yourself winning a Thailand vacation? You're probably better off just buying your ticket.  So you're entering dozens and dozens of contests and never win anything. Sound familiar? If you're not realistic with your chances of winning, you're going to find yourself disappointed over and over again. Many Instagram and Facebook contests will have you comment and tag people in order to enter. This is a great way for you to see what your odds are. As a general rule of thumb, if there are less than 100 entries (or 100 comments), I always enter. Anywhere under 1,000 entries, I enter if it is simple enough. If they want me to follow them, follow 20 other accounts, tag 37 people, and subscribe to their email list, then I probably won't enter because that's a lot of work for low odds. Recently I had someone tag me in a contest with over 3,000 entrants that had only been open for 2 hours for a prize worth only $150. No matter how many people you're

I'm excited that within days of starting this blog, I won another social media contest. Winning is not something you can count on, but you can increase your chances of winning something in a few different ways. One of which is entering contests with very few entries.  This contest was sponsored by Raygun, a Midwest shop known for their graphic tees. I own a shirt and have heard their owner speak on two different occasions which is why I followed them originally. I'm a big fan of their humor. That Nancy Pelosi clapping meme? They put it on a t-shirt .  So when they posted that they were giving away two tickets, I was ready. It didn't matter to me that I had never heard of the band because my parents LOVE concerts, and I knew I could give the tickets to them.  All you had to do was tag a friend in the comments. The reason I won? Only FOUR people entered. That's right. Obviously more people than just four saw the post, but they didn't know the

Yeah, that's right, I won a 128GB iPad Pro for FREE! However, there is no such thing as a free iPad. I put in a lot of work into connecting with people to help me out.  In June 2017, my family went on vacation to Hawaii. One day my mom had me look up things to do and I found the Byodo-In Temple to have good reviews. So we packed everyone into the car and drove to the place that would end up sending me an iPad.  We wandered around taking pictures. There is a small building off to the right of the temple that was your typical gift shop and snack bar, but it was closed. My dad and brother were sitting there and I went over to join them when I saw an 8.5"x 11" piece of paper taped to the wall explaining a Facebook contest to win a free iPad. Essentially, all you needed was the most likes on your Facebook photo. Easy, right?  I spent our remaining time there taking a bunch of photos from different angles to give me options to choose from later.  The ab

Hello, everyone! My name is Amber, and I have a special talent for winning social media contests. I consider this a side hustle of sorts and have won over $3,000 in about 4 years. My prizes range from a 128GB iPad Pro to gift cards to clothes to conference and concert tickets. I'm here to help you all crack the code on how to start winning contests. My first tip is to keep your eye out. People advertise these contests everywhere, not just online. The iPad I won was from reading a piece of paper taped to the side of a building. Stick around for more tips as well as all the contests I've been entering plus a recap of what I've won so far. Have you won any contests? Comment below!