workSHOPPED: The Power Of Social Commerce with Just!n Tech

0:00 Hello insiders, I'm Lauren Solinsky and I

0:02 head up content and community for YouTube

0:04 shopping and this is our podcast series

0:07 and today I'm with Justin of Justin Tech.

0:10 He is the founder of his YouTube channel dedicated

0:13 to helping consumers navigate the complex world of pre-built gaming PCs.

0:19 Unlike many creators who stumble into monetization,

0:22 Justin launched his channel with a business

0:25 first affiliate strategy successfully niching down

0:29 from general tech to becoming a trusted

0:31 authority in high ticket gaming hardware.

0:34 This data-driven approach has turned Justin Tech

0:37 into a high conversion resource for gamers and is a prime example of how

0:42 to build a sustainable business for YouTube shopping.

0:45 So, Justin, thank you for joining us.

0:48 You did that really well by the way.

0:50 When every time I do something like that it's like [laughter] I do probably five

0:54 to seven takes for every intro just cuz I want my intro to just be on point.

1:00 And if I read into a prompter, I my eyes are just too it's it's it's so locked

1:06 on that I can't even it's it's so I have to memorize

1:07 it and then I then I talk to the camera and I

1:15 I have a bad memory so it's just this back and forth.

1:18 Well, good thing for you your memory is not a part of your YouTube channel.

1:21 However, gaming PCs are and just like your intro said,

1:26 I think what's so interesting is you literally

1:28 started YouTube with the aim of affiliate marketing.

1:33 Tell us about that.

1:34 That was an interesting approach.

1:36 So, back in 2020 I lost my job due to COVID.

1:40 Um it was a I worked for this company

1:43 that was about to hit their best year in 30

1:46 years and then they had to let go 95%

1:50 of the company because COVID just wiped out events.

1:53 Um so I got a call from my mom and she told me

1:58 that she felt like God was giving her a book to give me.

2:02 She saw this book I think on Amazon or Barnes& Noble or something.

2:06 She said that she felt like God was telling her to give me

2:09 that book to read and it was a book called uh The Take Action Effect.

2:14 And uh that book basically just opened up

2:18 my entire world when it came to affiliate marketing,

2:21 how to make money on the internet and I

2:24 read that book cover to cover in a few days.

2:26 I don't do that with books very often.

2:29 Um but yeah, from from that point on I knew, okay,

2:32 I wanted I want to start a YouTube channel and affiliate marketing

2:35 is going to be the way that I make money with that.

2:37 So, mama Justin, well, that's not her name,

2:40 but mama, we have to we have to thank her.

2:42 She's the reason we're here.

2:43 she hadn't recommended that book, I would not have started a YouTube channel.

2:47 Okay, but you did and it's thriving.

2:49 Tell us about the process of starting it to where you are

2:53 today cuz I know there was times where it was a little questionable.

2:56 The process was was very rough in the beginning.

2:59 Uh I would say that COVID probably was the biggest

3:03 blessing in disguise when it came to my career.

3:07 Um that first year was super rough.

3:11 It we almost had to sell the house just to to pay the bills.

3:15 Um but after I kind of figured out what

3:18 worked I was able to niche down and double down

3:23 on what I saw the audience um participating in and uh

3:29 what related to them the best and once I went

3:32 all in on that, I was able to negotiate uh

3:34 commission rates with different brands um and kind of negotiate

3:39 brands against each other cuz I knew there was wiggle

3:41 room in between different uh different products that people were purchasing.

3:46 I knew that they're I knew that the companies were making more money

3:49 on these products than they were trying

3:51 to make me believe that they were making.

3:53 Um so after I kind of negotiated all the brands rates up,

3:58 that was about the same time that everybody

4:01 was trusting my videos more for uh reviews um and I actually get a lot of people

4:08 in the comments now on computers that they want to purchase.

4:12 They'll actually reach out to me and say,

4:15 hey, there's this computer that I want to get.

4:17 You haven't done a review on it yet, but you've helped me out a lot in the past

4:21 so I want to make sure that you get a commission.

4:23 They'll ask me to create an affiliate link for them so that I can

4:27 get the commission for the computer that they buy which is a high praise.

4:31 When you find an audience that's like that, then that's that's gold.

4:35 So, bumping back a bit though,

4:37 that was interesting that you were able to determine

4:39 like this is the niche my audience wants.

4:42 How did you figure that out?

4:44 I would say trial and error.

4:45 I that first year I basically did a review

4:48 on any kind of tech you could you could think of.

4:52 I tried the iPhone thing because I knew that was popular.

4:55 I think I got maybe two or 300 views on my iPhone vs.

5:00 Pixel video which I spent probably about a week making

5:04 that video so to get two to three I I said,

5:07 never again will will I do an an iPhone or smartphone

5:12 uh review just because it's if you're not in that niche

5:15 already or you're not one of those big MKBHD type

5:18 creators that like you get the stuff early plus he's amazing.

5:23 Um if you can't compete with that, you need

5:25 to find a find a different niche and kind

5:27 of be the main guy for this other thing

5:29 and not not try to be like everybody else.

5:32 Well, that's an interesting approach.

5:34 We hear both sides of the coin with affiliate marketing.

5:36 Sometimes it's see what your competitors are doing, uh do your take on it,

5:42 but another way in is also find the white space,

5:44 find what no one else is doing and own that.

5:47 But you did still have passion for it.

5:49 Is that Mhm.

5:51 true with gaming PCs?

5:52 It wasn't just something that you like, oh,

5:54 I guess I'll hawk this today, you know.

5:56 No, I I never do a review of something that I just can't

5:59 stand cuz I I know if I take that in the long run,

6:02 it's going to be that's going to be miserable.

6:04 Um so you do you don't have to find the thing you love the most,

6:08 but you do it want to find something that you still like um that not everybody

6:13 else is doing cuz there there's a lot

6:14 of channels out there that are doing uh DIY,

6:17 build your own computer um type content and that's really big that's

6:23 actually probably more people watch

6:25 those videos than pre-built gaming PC videos.

6:28 Um but it you kind of have to find your niche if you

6:34 want to stand out and be the one guy for that and for you

6:38 to get the most conversions and affiliate commissions you kind of have

6:42 to be the last trusted source in in a lot of these product searches.

6:47 So, that's an interesting point too.

6:49 With a lot of affiliate marketing, you know,

6:52 conjures up the image of it's beauty influencers and it's fashion.

6:57 Tech is so interesting because it's usually higher price point,

7:02 higher AOV if you want to be in the know, uh higher price point items.

7:06 So, how do you get your viewers

7:09 to go from research to actually making the purchase?

7:14 I'd say there's probably six there's probably six six to seven

7:19 different call to actions that I do on each of my videos.

7:24 I'll I'll say the link in the description and I'll point,

7:29 but then I have an animated arrow pointing to that that spot on the video

7:33 and then at the exact same time I do the the new uh YouTube um uh timestamp

7:41 timestamping, yes.

7:42 So, the YouTube timestamping that pops up at the same

7:44 time and then I talk about a QR code

7:46 that's also going to be on the video and then

7:48 I I say the links in the description as well.

7:50 So, there's there's all these different like

7:53 not not treating the audience like they're dumb,

7:56 but treating the audience like they got a lot of other things going on.

7:59 They're probably not paying 100% attention to to your video.

8:02 They probably have their dog they're playing

8:03 with on the floor or they're having a conversation while

8:06 watching the video while on the internet also researching

8:09 or looking up the products that you're talking about.

8:12 Um so as many as many call to actions or just things on on screen to show them

8:19 this is how you buy it uh the better

8:21 and I've noticed conversions have really helped out with that.

8:24 I love that you said that because a lot

8:26 of times creators think by talking about the fact that it's

8:30 shoppable or by calling out the fact that there's

8:32 a product that they can click on, it feels salesy,

8:36 but the way you just described it is call to action, right?

8:39 You're helping them understand how they can act

8:43 to get the thing that you're talking about.

8:45 So, I think that's a really good call out that it

8:48 education for the viewers paramount to a new product area.

8:52 Right.

8:51 Like this.

8:51 Yeah, and I I think review channels are

8:54 more used to doing it without feeling sleazy.

8:58 Uh the channels that I feel like are the most

9:00 uncomfortable with doing that are the more entertainment based channels

9:04 and when they have an audience that goes to them

9:06 for the entertainment and then they throw in that kind of thing,

9:09 it's going to feel weird at first, but you do it enough and YouTube is going

9:13 to start set YouTube knows very well who's watching your videos.

9:17 So, they're going to start sending you the right people that don't care if

9:20 you're trying to make money to make

9:22 this entertainment product that they love watching.

9:25 Um they're not going to care if you're starting to talk about links and stuff

9:29 in the in the description um when YouTube

9:33 is literally giving you those type of viewers.

9:36 I mean, I talk about this all the time.

9:38 How awkward was it initially to say,

9:41 if you like what you see, click like and subscribe,

9:43 but everybody does it and no one's like, that was weird, that took me out of it.

9:47 It's just something that was new,

9:50 but now it's just so part of, you know, inherently the creator's content.

9:55 So, I think that's also a good call out.

9:58 How does your audience respond to the fact that the heart

10:01 of your content is essentially pushing towards a product purchase?

10:07 I think they really respect it when I

10:11 give them literally all the information that they're searching

10:13 for when they're trying to figure out if

10:16 this is the right computer for them to purchase.

10:18 Um even in the intro I mention that I I obsess over

10:22 the intros because I want them to know you probably haven't seen me before,

10:26 but trust me I know what I'm talking about.

10:28 Here's all these flashing images of what we're about to talk about.

10:30 It's almost like a trailer for why this video is going

10:33 to be the best thing for you in in searching for this product.

10:37 Um I want to make sure that they understand I don't talk

10:41 about the links really that much until the end of the video.

10:44 Um but I make sure that they know

10:46 that they're getting all the value that they want.

10:49 Um I've done a few polls on my channel asking, okay,

10:52 should I should I make these reviews longer or should

10:55 I make them shorter or are they just right?

10:57 And the poll that I I did that on 7% said that it was too long,

11:03 7% said it was too short, and then the rest of all the percent said,

11:07 it's just right, just keep it the way it is.

11:09 So, I I think I think I've kind of found like that perfect

11:13 happy area of how long each section needs to be without boring them.

11:19 Um but yeah, if they're getting all of their questions answered,

11:22 YouTube will even start putting your video to the top even

11:26 when there's other creators that are a lot bigger than you.

11:29 They have more views obviously because of browse

11:32 features and everybody knows who they are.

11:35 Um they'll start putting your videos above theirs just because the satisfaction

11:39 with people that are searching for that is a lot higher.

11:42 Um but yeah, when when search related views on a video are high,

11:47 conversions are very high.

11:50 I'm so glad you brought that up because actually your subscriber

11:52 count really doesn't matter when it comes to YouTube shopping, right?

11:56 It's about engagement.

11:58 And by the time this video comes out,

12:00 we will have officially lowered subscriber count

12:03 to only 500 for people to participate.

12:06 Yes, round of applause.

12:08 Uh to participate in YouTube shopping.

12:10 So, that's how much we firmly believe that this is accessible to anybody.

12:14 Anybody can start from any point in their their YouTube journey.

12:18 I think you're proof of that.

12:19 You had a story about a video What was it?

12:25 So, my I guess to to kind of be transparent about income,

12:29 uh my first $30,000 month was when I only had 40,000 subscribers.

12:36 So, subscribers mean nothing.

12:39 Uh I All the time I get a quest All

12:41 the time I get questions uh by people asking, okay,

12:44 so how many subscribers do you need in order to make

12:47 a living or how many subscribers do you blah blah blah?

12:50 It's they're completely unrelated.

12:52 If you're making if review channels do really well.

12:55 Um I feel like a lot of people probably actually unsubscribe

12:58 after they make their purchase cuz they don't need my content anymore,

13:01 which I'm fine with.

13:02 Um but I met a lot of people at like VidSummit

13:07 that had over 500,000 subscribers that were weren't even doing it full-time yet.

13:13 They still had a side a side gig going on because

13:16 if if you're not making money in all different kinds of streams,

13:20 you're you're going to have a difficult time making money on YouTube.

13:25 Um but yeah, the first the first year that I was uh using YouTube shopping,

13:30 it was about 34,000 in total sales.

13:35 Um the second year was a little over 400,000 in total sales.

13:40 And then now 2025, uh YouTube shopping was uh 1.4 million in sales.

13:46 Wow.

13:47 Um but yeah, over the over the past 3 years,

13:49 the channel is over all the affiliate networks

13:52 has been about 11 million and uh affiliate sales.

13:57 That's not my commission by the way.

13:58 and work on my YouTube channel.

13:59 Goodbye, everybody.

14:00 I'm not making 3 million a year, but that's that's the rough uh overall number.

14:05 Yeah, well, I think I mean, thank you for sharing that cuz again,

14:07 I think it's just another testament to if

14:10 you're making content that people care about,

14:12 if you're giving them information that they're seeking out,

14:15 you're helping them on a journey they're already down,

14:18 but you're the end point for which they make that purchase.

14:21 Right.

14:21 That's awesome.

14:22 So, like a lot of creators, you do both long-form and short-form content.

14:27 So, when do you decide what products are going to be in which format?

14:33 Usually price point is a big factor.

14:36 When I try to sell not I hate using the word sell.

14:40 I don't try to I'm not there to sell,

14:43 but when I try to create content that people

14:45 will like that will maybe lead to a purchase,

14:48 I rarely lead to a purchase of a $4 or $5,000

14:52 gaming PC on a short that people are just swiping through.

14:55 Search related views and long-form content is more for that.

14:58 But when it comes to accessories, actually I asked Gemini this and I said,

15:03 why why am I having trouble making uh why why are

15:06 nobody using my YouTube shopping tags for gaming PCs on my shorts.

15:13 And it basically said that you're not going to find

15:16 many people that are buying things that expensive um through shorts.

15:21 But if you have things that are like the sub $50 range,

15:24 that the more impulse buys that they called it or it it called it,

15:29 um then you're much more likely to to have sales in in that aspect.

15:34 But what I I tend to use YouTube uh what I tend to use shorts

15:38 for um is just like a little preview

15:40 trailer for the short-form audience to be like,

15:43 okay, uh I can find this guy's long-form version of this video on his channel,

15:49 so I'll go ahead and check that out.

15:50 And that's where you'll take the time to really dive in on the product,

15:54 go through all the nuances, specifics.

15:56 I think what's so interesting is that people really

15:59 value YouTube for research as well as for content consumption.

16:03 And so, I think the shopping creators who are really successful understand that.

16:08 And so, when they're talking about a product,

16:10 it's not the viral, superficial, oh my god, I love it.

16:13 It's such specificity that it go the audience is able to say,

16:19 I understand, I want it, thank you, you know?

16:22 So, I think that's really interesting.

16:24 Do you see a difference in the audience

16:26 between your short-form content and your long-form content?

16:29 The long-form audience is definitely the more friendlier

16:33 audience that follows me that that likes me.

16:36 The short-form I've noticed are people that have never heard of me

16:38 before or there's more of those that have never heard of me before.

16:42 They're the They're usually the ones that will complain more about high prices.

16:46 Um they're usually the ones that Cuz you set the prices.

16:50 They're Yeah, and they're Yeah.

16:52 They're usually the ones that kind of uh I wouldn't say lash out,

16:55 but they they yell at me in kind ways

17:00 uh for pushing these overpriced computers through YouTube shorts.

17:05 Um which most of them aren't overpriced.

17:07 They're they're very good deals.

17:10 Um but yeah, I've noticed that I get a little bit more of the angry people,

17:15 the people that are more budget-conscious on YouTube shopping

17:19 than uh YouTube shorts than on the long-form content.

17:22 You mentioned that you really researched and doubled down

17:26 on what is exactly that my audience is responding to.

17:30 So, analytics must play a big part in that.

17:32 How do you now look at your analytics?

17:35 What matters most to you?

17:37 I I never thought I actually came

17:40 from an animation background, like very artistic.

17:43 I used to I used to work for a a company where I

17:45 did special effects for commercials and and TV shows and things like that.

17:49 Uh I never thought that I would find a lot of fun in obsessing over data,

17:56 but I really get down into those analytics.

17:59 I'm constantly doing polls on my channel to to really fine-tune and figure

18:03 out who exactly my audience is cuz they surprise me a lot of times.

18:06 There's a lot of times I think that a poll is

18:09 going to go one way and it goes the completely other way.

18:11 So, I'm collecting all these polls just on the types of computers people like,

18:16 um the versions of them,

18:17 which brands they want to uh buy from, which retailers they prefer

18:21 to buy from, which is another thing about analytics that was just

18:25 awesome for me to find out recently was um I did

18:29 a poll asking which retailer they wanted to purchase a gaming PC from.

18:35 And I realized I was more on, let's say, retailer A versus retailer B.

18:40 Yeah.

18:40 And I was talking about a lot of the computers from retailer from retailer

18:44 A, but retailer B was four times more

18:48 the preferred retailer for people to buy from.

18:51 And then I noticed when I looked at all of my 2025 sales data,

18:56 it matched that exactly.

18:57 So, there was four times more people bought from that retailer for gaming

19:01 PCs than the one that I was talking about the majority of the time.

19:05 So, that's those are kind of shifts where you can be like, okay,

19:08 if they have computers that are equally valuable

19:12 and you would cuz they're not always the same computers.

19:15 Like this this retailer will have

19:17 these and then this retailer will have other computers.

19:21 Um to be able to to pivot when you get

19:25 that information is going to be not only huge for you,

19:29 but your audience is going to get a lot more of what they want

19:33 cuz if they're if they don't care

19:34 or don't trust about trust this other retailer,

19:37 then that's just you're wasting airtime to talk about it.

19:40 And I have to now imagine that this data that you

19:43 have is so valuable when you're approaching brands for sponsorships,

19:48 for partnerships, things of that ilk.

19:50 Is that something you've done in past?

19:52 I did do that.

19:53 I um I had this one poll and I said,

19:57 "If my gaming PC reviews helped you make a purchase,

20:02 did you remember to use my link?" And I think it was like 40% of them said,

20:07 "No, I forgot to use your link." And then

20:10 the others which it's probably more 50/50 because

20:12 the people that saw that poll are more likely

20:15 the people that care about my content, keep following it.

20:19 They're the ones that are more most likely to say yes to that and support me.

20:23 Um so I'm going to say it's probably closer to like 50/50,

20:26 which means that I'm probably double the value

20:32 that a lot of these companies think that I am,

20:35 but not me, the the channel content is probably driving them

20:40 double the sales that are showing up in in their analytics.

20:44 And I have to say that one

20:45 of hopefully uh YouTube Shopping helped mitigate that challenge

20:50 by offering timestamps where the product visually pops

20:54 up at the moment you're talking about it Mhm.

20:57 to easily click on versus previously having just description links,

21:01 which takes you off the channel, takes you out of the content.

21:05 So part of the goal of YouTube Shopping is to make that ease for the viewer

21:10 and for the creator so that everybody's in the same place at the same time.

21:15 Yeah, the data collection that I've been

21:16 able to get by using the YouTube Shopping

21:19 tags has been so much more valuable because

21:22 I've gotten a little I wouldn't say lazy,

21:25 but I've gotten in the past where it just takes too much

21:28 time to update all my links on all of my different videos.

21:33 So I've been using um external sites where um like link shorteners where I use

21:39 that same link shortener in in all

21:41 the videos that I talk about that one computer.

21:44 Um so I there's a lot of times I don't

21:46 know which video is the one that is driving these sales,

21:51 which one is actually performing well, and which one which type of video I

21:54 need to focus more attention on in the future.

21:58 So but with YouTube Shopping you get to organize all that by okay,

22:02 which video It'd be nice.

22:03 I I wonder if in the future Listen up, engineers.

22:06 I wonder if in the future we'd be able to see the exact moment

22:10 that they decide to click on the product tag and then make the purchase.

22:16 That would be an interesting statistic that I think would would probably help us

22:20 figure out when the best time is to to put those call to actions.

22:24 January's like my month where I get to just take a deep breath cuz October,

22:29 November, December is just crazy.

22:33 Um crazy hours, but it's also fourth quarter is basically the same

22:40 income as the rest of the the quarters combined for my content.

22:45 Um but I went just nerded out like crazy

22:50 with all of the different exporting out of the YouTube Analytics.

22:55 Um and then I probably had 20 different

23:00 20 different spreadsheets and things that got exported out.

23:03 And I actually overloaded Gemini to where it said,

23:07 "Okay, that's too many things to upload.

23:09 You're going to have to Engineers, listen [laughter] up.

23:11 You're going to have to you're going to have to choose.

23:13 So I I took I think it was 20 15

23:16 or 20 documents that I then uploaded into the um

23:20 the Gemini deep research and had it just compile all

23:24 of that data and it cross-referenced computers from different retailers,

23:28 different affiliate networks.

23:29 I know YouTube is my my main one now,

23:32 but there's other affiliate networks that I'm partnering with right now, too.

23:37 Um but uh it was able to cross-reference

23:40 all of the different computers and the ones

23:43 that didn't like within the YouTube Analytics it doesn't

23:47 always tell you exactly which which product it is,

23:51 but sometimes it'll give you the What's the word for You are skew.

23:55 Oh, oh, oh.

23:56 Okay, so so that it'll find the skew,

23:58 cross-reference it across all the websites and then find a match.

24:02 And it basically did that and it showed me, "Okay,

24:05 which computer over all the affiliate networks was

24:08 the most purchased computer?" It tells me how many orders.

24:11 It just it organized the data in any format that I

24:15 wanted it and it it's deep research has been huge.

24:19 I'm really glad to hear you say this on another episode of Workshopped.

24:23 Uh we will dive into AI and sort of the advantages.

24:26 So I'm I'm glad to hear you're utilizing it for things like analytics.

24:30 It's really interesting you said Q4 is that, you know, mad dash.

24:36 How do you plan ahead for that?

24:38 What do you do to plan your content knowing

24:41 it's going to be the busiest time of year?

24:43 That's another situation where I start using a lot of polls.

24:47 Like I ask I I think last November I

24:50 did there's a couple weeks where I feel like I

24:53 did a poll almost every day just trying to figure

24:56 out exactly what was the best thing for them.

24:58 Um I was asking them about uh I do a 24-hour live stream

25:03 on Black Friday each year where I'm

25:05 just sitting there answering questions in the chat.

25:08 It's it's never like a lot of people in the chat all at once,

25:11 but it's enough for the for every hour that come in and out

25:16 to where it's it helps a lot of people make Wow.

25:20 purchases on that day.

25:20 And that's that's kind of the hot day where I

25:22 just focus really really hard on all of the specific deals.

25:28 Um provide as much value for um helping people find

25:33 uh help helping people not get ripped off by these best

25:38 uh best deals on Black Friday cuz a lot

25:41 of times a lot of times they're not really deals.

25:44 They're just they mark them up the week before

25:46 and then they mark them down on Black Friday.

25:49 So I kind of try to help people navigate that as well.

25:52 Um but yeah, just doing a lot of polls,

25:54 asking a lot of questions, reading all the comments,

25:58 um using AI to sum up the comments

26:01 on other reviews that are similar to my reviews

26:04 so that I can make sure to answer

26:05 the questions that those other videos didn't answer.

26:09 Um so I I always find that you're kind of at an advantage

26:14 even when you are the last person to make a review on a product.

26:19 Um I know a lot of people want to see like the first ones,

26:22 but to be the last person you can basically

26:25 fill in all the gaps where they missed out.

26:27 Um and just really give them exactly what

26:32 they need to know for each of these products.

26:34 It's so interesting you said that as well because I

26:37 have to imagine as a creator you may think, "Well,

26:39 there's so many people reviewing this type of product

26:42 or there's so many people making content about beauty or fashion.

26:47 Like how am I going to stand out?" So I think

26:49 it's really interesting that you can use that to your advantage.

26:52 You can leverage what's been done before and do your own spin on it.

26:56 So I think that's great advice.

26:58 It's nice to be able to to finally talk

27:00 about this stuff cuz This is the therapist couch here.

27:03 This is the This is the whole reason why going to to VidSummit and the YouTube

27:07 Shopping socials and all these creator networking events

27:11 is so awesome because there's so many creators like

27:14 me that you talk about this stuff to the average person and you can just see

27:19 their eyes glaze over and they just I

27:21 can see in their eyes saying, "I don't care.

27:25 Stop talking.

27:26 Stop talking." And it's like I have so much in my head about that to talk

27:30 about and not as much to talk about about the topics that they want

27:34 to talk about that it it sometimes it just feels uh like I I got

27:38 so much in me that I want to give out that I just can't, but

27:42 Well, you're you're a creator insider.

27:44 You're in a safe place.

27:46 Um but actually all joking aside,

27:49 I think what you're describing is treating YouTube like a business, right?

27:53 It's your full-time job.

27:54 And so it's looking how to maximize monetization opportunities.

27:59 Mhm.

27:59 It's looking at how do you leverage analytics.

28:03 And I think the people that are going to have long-term success

28:06 on the platform are those creators that are going to do that extra work,

28:11 not just do the viral this product or that product

28:16 cuz that's kind of a one flash in the pan, right?

28:18 Mhm.

28:19 what you've done is constantly engage with your audience,

28:24 constantly ensure that their needs are being met.

28:28 Mhm.

28:29 And they're literally paying you back for it, right?

28:32 So you talked a lot about your performance analytics.

28:34 How have you leveraged that to get brand sponsorships and deals?

28:40 I've actually been kind of more actively pushing off sponsorships.

28:46 Oh, really?

28:47 Just because it's when I when I spend a good week or 10 days,

28:52 however long it takes to to make one of these reviews

28:55 to just have like a locked-on sponsorship amount for that um

29:01 isn't usually it's not as appealing and then I then the video

29:05 gets less views because you put the sponsored thing on it.

29:08 And people don't trust it that much anyway,

29:10 so it almost feels like kind of like a I'm not going to say a waste of content,

29:15 but it doesn't feel like it's providing anybody as much

29:19 value as I think they deserve, not even the brand.

29:21 Cuz I think the brand the brand wants to get as much exposure as they want to.

29:26 When they get less exposure for things like that and even

29:29 when I make it more of an entertaining thing,

29:31 that's not really sending them consumers,

29:34 that's sending them people that just get entertained by watching an unboxing

29:38 or watching uh whatever fun thing that I'm doing with the video.

29:42 Um That's an interesting take though because I

29:45 think a lot of creators probably think the opposite.

29:48 Oh, if I get a brand deal, I will have made it, right?

29:51 But what you've done and what you continue to do is

29:54 just lean in deeper to the platform and what's already available.

29:58 Yeah, I feel like for for brand deals for me,

30:01 I like to treat it more towards Well,

30:04 maybe I can do a short for you for for less

30:06 money cuz I feel like my short-form content is

30:10 more it feels like a like a second channel

30:12 to me that doesn't isn't really affected by the main channel.

30:16 I don't feel I don't feel [clears throat] bad making

30:19 a quick 60-minute or 60-second video sponsorship or sponsored video.

30:25 Um but yeah, when I have to when I need to make like a 15-minute long one,

30:30 it just it feels it feels it hits different.

30:33 Yeah, and that makes total sense.

30:34 Now, that being said, Workshopped, this podcast, will take any brand deal.

30:39 Anyone wants to.

30:39 Now, I will say that brand deals I am starting to consider more brand

30:44 deals that are somewhat not related to my content cuz when I can do

30:50 not related I wouldn't say not related not related to the product that I'm

30:52 reviewing because then it's kind of more um it's it's helpful for the audience,

31:00 helpful for the brand, but it doesn't take away from the review.

31:03 The review can still be a review,

31:05 but it's like once you put something else in there that's still

31:08 computer-related that doesn't seem like it takes away from any other brand.

31:13 Um but those are kind of harder ones to find

31:15 where it's like it still applies to your very small niche,

31:19 but it doesn't it doesn't make people trust you any

31:23 less about this one brand if it's like a competing brand.

31:26 Um if that makes sense.

31:28 That totally makes sense.

31:29 When it comes to your analytics, which ones for you, right?

31:33 Because affiliate marketing is your bread and butter,

31:36 which analytics matter most?

31:38 Does it view count, offer click?

31:40 Like what what counts?

31:41 the one that I I tend to go to in the most daily is total sales.

31:49 Not even commission.

31:50 I I'm I try to because each commission

31:54 is a little bit different across different retailers.

31:57 Um that's kind of how I gauge my performance

32:01 on is this is this really striking a nerve with people?

32:05 Is it something that they're they're liking that they want to see?

32:08 Am I helping them near the end of the videos cuz

32:10 even on videos where I don't give the computer the best review,

32:14 there's always a buying opportunity in the end where

32:17 um I have a section in all of my reviews

32:19 at at the end where I talk about these are the best gaming PCs for every budget.

32:24 So, there's there's a 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and then 5 or 6,000.

32:31 Spaceship price.

32:31 Uh yeah.

32:32 So, I make sure to that anybody watching the video,

32:36 even if that's not the computer they're they're going to end up going

32:39 with, there's always something that they can buy if they are in the buying mode.

32:45 This is like segues a keep on a coming.

32:48 Um great segue into what do you do if

32:51 there's a product that you don't want to review well?

32:54 Are you worried about hurting a brand relationship?

32:57 Like how do you treat that cuz you want to be honest?

32:59 Yeah.

32:59 But There there is one that I'm working with right

33:03 now that I spent a good 2 week a good 2

33:07 weeks on the video and I learned some stuff about

33:10 the brand that I needed to figure out more information about.

33:14 So, I was like a good 2 weeks that I thought

33:15 I was going about to be like to post a video,

33:18 but I can't because there's just some questions

33:21 that I I've been asking myself and I even

33:25 brought my wife in on it trying to figure

33:26 out if if this is something I should post.

33:29 Um so, I'm actually doing a secret shopper purchase from this brand now.

33:34 Um just to make sure that my the user's experience is going to be

33:39 the same as the experience that I had because they they sent me a computer.

33:45 It was it was good, but then I'm

33:46 reading all these other reviews from other people.

33:48 I I still read and watch the reviews

33:51 of other reviewers and um other actual customer purchases.

33:56 And when I'm seeing a lot of things

33:58 add up that don't make sense with my experience,

34:01 then I that's when I'm kind of like, all right,

34:03 I need to do a a secret shopper purchase and figure

34:07 out if this is legit that these people are talking about,

34:10 if this is something they fixed like they said they fixed.

34:13 Um but yeah, I'll use the word disappointing a lot

34:17 if there's a computer that's that's not really up to par.

34:20 There's one thing that I think with a lot of these um reviews,

34:25 a lot of them most of the computers aren't bad,

34:29 but the one thing that I would say disappointing

34:32 the most is when they they kind of play games

34:36 with their prices and when they start when it

34:40 does seem like they are kind of ripping people off,

34:42 that's when I kind of have a little bit

34:44 more of an emotional like against them uh thing

34:47 because most people know what the most people

34:50 in that niche know what these computers are supposed to cost.

34:54 And when it's just outrageous and they're trying to act like, what?

34:57 Nothing's nothing's wrong.

34:59 That's when I kind of have to call them out and use the disappointing word.

35:03 But presumably uh or presumably though you do have

35:07 videos where maybe there's a product that you're disappointed in.

35:12 Um you'll still review it, right?

35:15 But you'll give that honest feedback.

35:17 I think that honesty I have to imagine has just only continued to earn

35:21 you more trust with your viewers so that when there is that spaceship priced,

35:25 you know, uh PC, you actually might get someone to buy it, right?

35:30 When whenever I review a computer with uh zero enthusiasm,

35:38 uh it tends to get a lot more purchases

35:42 in that best gaming PC for every budget section of the video.

35:46 So, it's like I feel like when they see that kind of honesty,

35:49 they're like, okay, well,

35:51 then this is probably is a good one because he just said the one that uh

35:55 he made this really nice thumbnail for uh

35:58 he just said this one's not really that great.

36:00 So, if he's saying one's not great,

36:02 then obviously he wasn't this isn't a bot review.

36:05 Um that's when they start trusting even the the stuff that's at the end.

36:08 So, I think comparing products is definitely the key into allowing

36:13 your audience to realize this is not bought and paid for review.

36:17 This is these are actual comparisons.

36:19 This is actual data.

36:21 We spend 10 plus days on each of these computers just making

36:26 sure that we're like looking at all the ins and the outs,

36:29 the the thermals, the game the FPS for all these games,

36:34 um running all these tests.

36:36 knows what that means.

36:38 [laughter] Um frames per second for all these games.

36:39 It's basically like how how fast these games run,

36:42 how smooth they look uh with high graphic settings.

36:45 Um they want to see all those charts and sometimes

36:49 it's boring data to report on in a review,

36:52 but those are the parts that a lot of people skip to cuz they

36:54 just they there's a lot of people that just just want the hard data.

36:58 They want to know what the price to performance ratio is.

37:01 That's another thing that I have in my videos.

37:02 It's a very nerdy data thing.

37:05 Um but it's basically the frames per

37:07 second per dollar ratio of all these computers.

37:10 So, it that basically shows where it's value is

37:14 for how expensive it is versus how it performs.

37:18 And that's one of the charts that uh

37:21 once you start collecting a lot of these reviews,

37:23 that's really valuable for for people.

37:25 So, all of my reviews will have charts like that.

37:28 And I think with any niche, when you have um charts where you're comparing 20,

37:34 50 different products, people really value that data in making their purchase.

37:40 And I have to say it's worth, you know,

37:42 for the viewers to understand that this methodology

37:46 that you're describing is across any genre, right?

37:49 Could be makeup, it could be fashion,

37:51 anything where someone's going to spend real money on something,

37:55 the more in-depth review, the more details, the more comparisons that you can

37:59 give helps make the purchase process much more seamless.

38:05 So, I think that while we're talking about something very tech related today,

38:09 practice is very practical.

38:11 What advice would you have for somebody who maybe is

38:14 a gamer or who considers themself to be in the tech space,

38:17 but thinks affiliate marketing, you know, YouTube shopping isn't for them.

38:22 They're not a salesperson.

38:24 What would you say to that?

38:25 I would say that yes, you probably will lose subscribers.

38:31 You probably will uh get hate.

38:35 You probably will get people that um start

38:39 turning on you because you're starting to sell things,

38:42 but all that really does is change the YouTube

38:46 algorithm into recommending your videos to the right audience.

38:49 You don't You really don't want only the audience

38:53 that that watches you just for entertainment and doesn't care about you

38:58 as a person um creating the value or you

39:02 as a person that uh still needs to to pay the bills.

39:06 Um so, when you get a lot of these people that that watch

39:09 the videos that don't really have the money to buy things,

39:14 it's it hurts to lose those people,

39:16 but YouTube replaces them with people that do

39:19 have the money to buy these things.

39:21 I noticed when I first started YouTube, um I did a lot of uh if you comment,

39:28 uh you could be uh one of my winners for this gift card.

39:32 I did a gift card winner on each of my videos.

39:35 And what I noticed that was doing was feeding my videos

39:38 with a lot of these people that were constantly asking for a free computer.

39:43 Like I was just getting all these comments and saying, "Hey,

39:45 do you have any extra computers that I can have?" And it

39:48 was like people that were seriously thinking that because I did a gift

39:51 card that I'm going to be I'm going to have a I'm going

39:53 to have a garage full of computers that I can just give away.

39:55 And then I got more people asking about gift cards.

39:57 So it's like you tell YouTube who you want your audience

40:02 to be and they just keep giving you that audience.

40:05 So if you change your format, you're going to lose that audience at first,

40:09 but then you're going to get them

40:10 replaced with the right people that actually respect

40:12 your content and that actually respect what

40:15 you do and want what you are reviewing.

40:18 And that is why we call YouTube your fairy godmother.

40:22 We don't, but we probably should.

40:23 Yeah, we should.

40:24 Justin, thank you so much for sharing

40:26 how you treat your channel like a business, utilizing analytics,

40:30 understanding your audience so that you can make the most value for them,

40:34 which in turn makes the most value for you.

40:36 So thank you again and we'll see you next time, Insiders.