Is it beneficial for oneself to level up?

First off, giving back should be of your own choice, It doesn't have to be beneicial for one to do it, If one doesn't want to that's also okay but I personally like doing it. But in this case yes It's very beneficial, Not only will it allow you to join more giveaways with increased chances but also a lot of the private groups and whitelists require you to be at a certain level. So yes, It is beneficial.

Yes, as people make higher level giveaways, to reward others who make giveaways, and only those of that level or higher can enter.... FAQ

"What are levels, and how can I increase my level?
Levels range from 0-10, with level 0 being the default after registration, and level 10 being the highest level attainable. Levels represent a user's contributions to the community. At their core, they are calculated based on a user's contributor value. When a user creates a giveaway that's received by the winner, their contributor value and level increases. This allows the user to access additional giveaways that are restricted to higher levels. If you mouseover your level in the navigation bar, or the level on your user profile, you'll see a tooltip with the level rounded to 2 decimal places. This will give you a better idea of small increments in level, and when you're about to level up.

Levels increase in difficulty almost exponentially. Below is a summary of levels and their corresponding contributor values."

Level 0: $0.00
Level 1: $0.01 - $25
Level 2: $25 - $50
Level 3: $50 - $100
Level 4: $100 - $250
Level 5: $250 - $500
Level 6: $500 - $1,000
Level 7: $1,000 - $2,000
Level 8: $2,000 - $3,000
Level 9: $3,000 - $5,000
Level 10: $5,000+

https://www.steamgifts.com/about/faq

Less users are at each level, so your chances will be better. Of course expensive and rarely bundled games will attract much more people who can't afford them, but if you're after bundled games your chances are pretty good. Though being part of groups and whitelists make the odds much better. It's pretty easy to reach a decent level on here, so a lot of people have done that.

Yes, it makes your fight with Dracula easier. :)

If your goal is to win games then getting up to level 5 will get you access to like 95% of public giveaways.

As others have stated, higher level giveaways have fewer entries so the chances are somewhat better. I would say that if you want to just win anything, just entering all the possible giveaways is the best option. If you like to gift others, and have some chance to win something yourself, just make giveaways you want and enjoy the ones you win. If you want to win some specific game, the best option is to buy it yourself. Looking SG as possible investment where you get (certainly) something in return will likely not work out. Trading is much better suited for that.

My personal recommendation is to give what you want to share. Or gift nothing. That is also just fine. Have fun enjoying your stay!

If your goal is to maximize your chances of winning games, I think the most important thing is to join groups. Group giveaways give much better chances to win. Unlucky-7 is probably the best 'first group' and then you can go from there.

Of course some groups have level or ratio requirements, so if there is a particular group you really want to join, it probably will benefit you to give away more games and increase your level.

If what you want are games, it will be more rewarding for you if you buy games directly for yourself on steam than buying games to giveaway there.

When you get to level 8, they give you a puppy.

Do note, not many people anymore put their gifts on level 8 or higher (atleast that i can see with so many filtered out), if you want better odds, there are other ways.

It's kinda difficult to give a short answer.
On one hand, if you have spare games of decent quality(unbundled games or old bundled games), then you simply have to join a group where you have to do mandatory giveaway when you join and keep a decent ratio and easily win games.
Cause you already have spare keys and you don't have to worry about ratio at all since you have won 0 games as of now. But these group might have a minimum level needed of level 3 or 4.

If you are high level and active in the forum, then people might add you to their whitelist which is consider one of the biggest benefit to level up. Some whitelisted giveaways often time have less than 100 entries. Even less than 10 entries is common.

Now one of the biggest benefit of levelling up which is again for winning games is joining trains. The yearly community giveaway trains have lot of games to enter and the maximum requirement is usually level 5. You are gonna run out of points even if you only join wishlisted games.

So I don't think you need to be like level 7-8. But it would surely help if you reach level 4-5.

As others say your best chances are with groups and whitelists. A lot of groups and whitelists require you to have certain statistics like maybe be level 5 here or level 30 on steam. Also a lot of groups require a first join giveaway and maybe 1 giveaway to the group per month along with keeping games sent and received somewhat close. But honestly if you get to level 5 you can improve your odds to win quite a bit even without anything extra. Even so a lot of people including myself will do level 0 or level 1 giveaways here and there. In the end it's what you want to do, the more you put in the more you get out. At least to a point.

Without wanting to wax biblical you reap what you sow in the long run.

I just made some Giveaways thanks to someone's help. And I find it very enjoyable giving something to others, even if it is not much by now.
The biggest problem I had is sometimes I need to be praying for winners to claim their prizes and mark them the correct way... But yes, I think it has its benefits.