Do giveaways work?

I just spent editng my latest YouTube video longer than I've edited any video before. So, I hope the quality is now higher! I put probably more time in this video than in 3-4 videos normally :D

I've been thinking already for a year if I should start doing giveaways on YouTube.

And....

Now I'm FINALLY taking action and trying giveaways myself!

I'm going to document my journey here and act as your "Crash Test Dummy" to see if giveaways work or not. So, I will be revealing you some inside here at Wealthy Affiliate "behind the scenes" like Kyle documented his Instagram journey.

The reasons why I wanted to start testing giveaways are these:

1. I get almost daily emails like, "Roope, send me money! [Insert x-reason]"
2. I want to pay something back for those who have been following me on YouTube.
3. I have seen promising results for other YouTubers who have done giveways.

My plan is to make a weekly giveaway where I'll be going to send free PayPal money to one commenter.

If it seems that this doesn't work at all or if I get a YouTube community strike, this may end already after 1 or 2 giveaways. But if things go well, I will start making weekly giveaways on YouTube.

While planning my giveaway, I noticed that there are some legal guidelines that you need to take into account.

You need to follow YouTube's contest policies and guidelines if you do a giveaway.

This includes for example:

1. Showing official rules in the description.
2. Saying that YouTube is not part of the contest.
3. Giveaway must be free to enter.
4. You must include YouTube community rules & guidelines.
5. You are NOT allowed to ask for likes or subscribers as a requirement to participate the giveaway.
   
6. Etc.

I think that 99% of the YouTube giveaways that you have seen are illegal. Most people haven't even heard of these guidelines. I hadn't either.

So, I spent some time researching the guidelines and watched videos from some "YouTube authorities" to find out if I can really even do a giveaway.

Therefore, I found the official YouTube giveways rules templates and tried to follow the guidelines well. I hope for the best but I acknowledge that this is also a bit risky strategy.

It's kinda strange because why wouldn't you be able to send money for free to your followers? But there are a lot of strange bureaucracy things in the world anyway...

I'd love to hear from you now! :)

Have you done giveaways?

On which platform?

How well did they perform?

Looking forward to your answers below!

All the best!

- Roope "Your Crash Test Dummy" Kiuttu

PS. I guess I am not allowed to add the link to my video but in case you want to check it out, you will see it in my Wealthy Affiliate profile in the links on the right side.