Amber Wins Contests

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 wer...

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...