Podcast Guest

Zach Mitchem

Zach Mitchem is a YouTube SEO Specialist, Content Creator, and Social Media Consultant at We Are Video Makers

Podcast host

Martin Zerrudo

CEO SUEG Group

Martin Zerrudo

CEO SUEG Group

July 8, 2022

Captivate Your Audience With Zach Mitchem

watch the video

Zach Mitchem is a YouTube SEO Specialist, Content Creator, and Social Media Consultant at We Are Video Makers, a one-stop shop for growing your YouTube channel through content strategy and SEO. He is also the Chief Social Media Officer at Seller Universe Ecommerce Group and the YouTube SEO & Monetization Specialist at The Kavalier Inc. Zach graduated from Lindenwood University with a Bachelor’s in health services and from Weber State University with a Bachelor’s in integrated studies, psychology, nutrition, and pathophysiology.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Zach Mitchem shares the common mistakes content creators make and how to bring value to your audience
Zach’s recommended tools for video and sound quality
Zach details the professional video process We Are Video Makers uses
How can you build brand authority through influencers?
Zach shares the different funnel strategies on multiple platforms for brand awareness
How a successful brand can thrive by using product reviews as a marketing tool

In this episode…

In a world inundated by advertisements, people want videos that bring quality and value to their lives. How can you create content that gives you the best chance to succeed in selling your products and growing your brand?

Zach Mitchem has some advice for brands seeking to engage with their audience through content creation: find people who are passionate about the message they bring. It can be difficult to understand which platform to use to engage with your audience, but it doesn’t have to be. Zach recommends using a social media funnel to gauge the customer journey, so you can discover the best methods to market your brand.

In this episode of What Do You Do Next?, join Martin Zerrudo as he sits down with Zach Mitchem, Content Creator at We Are Video Makers, to discuss using video content to sell your products. Zach talks about how video content creators can bring value to their audience, the professional process and tools for creating high-quality content, and unique ways to build brand awareness across multiple platforms.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Seller Universe Ecommerce Group.

We provide essential Amazon and NetSuite service solutions for brand growth.

Seller Universe Ecommerce Group provides essential service solutions for brand growth and scale. We position brands for success through cost-effective growth initiatives and operational efficiencies. Our synchronized approach allows brands to dominate in today's complex, multiplatform ecommerce marketplace and ecosystem.

Our team at Seller Universe not only helps your brand on Amazon, but we also do Netsuite implementation and anything that gives you a headache around inventory management.

To learn more about what we can do for you and your brand, visit seller universe.agency.

Episode Transcript:

Intro 0:00

Welcome to the What Do You Do Next? podcast brought to you by Seller Universe Ecommerce Group. Whether you're just starting your ecommerce journey, finding ways to grow your online brand or can't seem to find the right tool or partner to help you break through. We're here to help. We interview experienced sellers, strategic service providers and other ecommerce experts who will help you answer the question. What do you do next?

Martin Zerrudo 0:25

I am Martin Zerrudo, I'm the host of the What Do You Do Next podcast? Whether you're starting your ecommerce journey, finding ways to grow your online brand or can't seem to find the right tool or partner to help you break through? We're here to help we interview experienced sellers, top strategic service providers and other seasoned ecommerce experts who will help you answer the question, what do you do next? This episode is brought to you by Seller Universe Ecommerce Group. We are a global ecommerce agency providing essential Amazon NetSuite and shop by service solutions for brand growth. So let me give you an example. We had one client in manufacturing and they sold on Amazon, but they weren't doing so well as they wanted to. So we started handling their DSP ad campaigns. By the way, we do have past Amazonians running as at our agency. Now we took them from A to ro s to 8.3. So in layman's terms, we basically spent 300k in ad spend for them and made 2.4 million in sales. So if that sounds interesting to you, please visit our website at selleruniverse.io. Today I'm talking to Zach Mitchem, Zach is calling in from Denver. And Zach is a video content strategist and founder of We Are Video Makers love the name Zach. They help you find the right gear, create better content and build a successful business through YouTube SEO. Hi, Zach, thank you so much for joining us today.

Zach Mitchem 1:32

Yeah, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Martin.

Martin Zerrudo 1:34

No problem. So we are videomakers. Where does the name come from? Where did that idea?

Zach Mitchem 1:38

Yeah, that's great question. So I mean, take it back just a little bit. I got on YouTube. A few years ago, I have this is my second channel actually had a third as well. But I had so many people reaching out to me asking for tips, tricks, things like that. On YouTube and video content. And I actually would I would give free advice occasionally. And people like oh, what do you charge for your services? Like, oh, I don't know, here. Here's what I charge. And I had a couple of people that I was making, you know, 10 hours a week was my best full time paying job was make paying me like, wow, this is okay, this could be something that was when I was finishing up school, stay at home dad, if and I switched roles, she was full time working. And I was at home. And it's like, I can make something of this. And so I started video growth consultant because I was working with companies kept getting larger and larger fortune 500 companies things like that. It's like, okay, well, I need to be an expert if they're gonna hire me. But I realized I really actually like working with the small business creators, the content creators, people that can't really afford to have a full time person on. And I was getting the most requests from them. So like, I need any idea that they can get behind, not me being an expert, and having to defend that every time I create content. So actually, a friend suggested we are video makers, and I loved it and we've stuck with it.

Martin Zerrudo 2:55

No, I love that. Have you always had a significant interest in content creation? And you know, the gear that's behind? You know, putting production together?

Zach Mitchem 3:05

Ah, yes and no. So when I was younger, I mean, all I wanted as a kid, we grew up, you know, fairly, fairly poor. I didn't realize it, I just had what I thought we needed, but later on, realized that I wanted an mp3 player for music. So I left sound, and I wanted a video camera. So when I was thinking, maybe 12, I got a really inexpensive video camera. My son's toy camera has better resolution than that. But I would film everything. I'd make videos in high school, I made Othello, we had to read a Shakespeare book and make a video out of it. So I loved that. But I've always liked I didn't know my first camera until I was doing YouTube. Full time, but I've always loved creating things. And actually, on that camera, I filmed my first YouTube video in 2008. I didn't post it. But yeah, it's always been an interest.

Martin Zerrudo 3:50

Fantastic. And that interest, obviously has translated into a successful business now, I'm just gonna jump right into it. Zach, what would you say when you start consulting and providing that strategy for these businesses? What are some of the common mistakes or misconceptions that people have walking into content creation?

Zach Mitchem 4:08

Yeah, that's a great question. I think it depends on again, individual, where are you coming from? What's your goals, but some of the biggest mistakes that I see, I think I'll go from content creators first, and then businesses because they are so different. Content creators, usually, they focus on the wrong things. They they think I need a $4,000 camera and a $2,000 lens. Those things can help if you know how to use them, but there's the if and you need to know how to use them. You know, $100 microphone will make your content better than a $4,000 camera if you're using the camera microphone, so it's just knowing what to focus on. And part of that is obsessing too much about gear. You know, we like the cameras we like the microphones, but the value that you provide is more important. So if you can get your sound and your video quality good enough, practicing your voice practicing your message, and giving value to an audience is the most important thing. So on the flip side when it comes with time really right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, my first videos were terrible. I really, really weren't. But I got a lot of views because I was pretty humble. And I was just trying to help. So yeah, it's it's the practice. And I think you'll always look back a few months, maybe six months back, those videos were terrible. I do that with this one. Now, even with professional video gear, like, oh, man, why don't do that.

Martin Zerrudo 5:19

Right. Right. Right. And the difference for the for businesses, for businesses,

Zach Mitchem 5:23

it's, you need to give value. I think too often, I've worked with several businesses where it's like, hey, I want to get this video seen by more people, like, well, it's a commercial on YouTube, nobody's searching for a commercial on YouTube. I don't want to watch a commercial. If you're selling something, teach me something around that lifestyle of like, if I'm purchasing, say, pre workout as one of the clients that I worked with, don't sell me your pre workout. Show me a great workout for my legs that I don't hate, because most people hate leg day. So show me like, give me some value that way. Because if you give me value that way, oh, man, I love that brand. They're just awesome. And then one in 10 videos, you mentioned your pre workout like, Oh, I didn't even know they sold anything. That's great. I would love to get some. So it's giving value. And understanding that creating content isn't marketing, running ads is marketing, that's totally different. We need to give value first,

Martin Zerrudo 6:11

for sure. When it comes into the kind of gear, do you usually recommend, hey, just buy a whole bunch? Or should you outsource it to somebody who can provide that service for you? Should you rent? What are some of those options, the pros and cons to it.

Zach Mitchem 6:28

Now there's there's a lot of options, a lot of options. I don't think I did what I would recommend, I kind of thought when I first first started, I would recommend this I just did the best I could I made sure I had okay lighting, an upgraded microphone of some sort, it was a $30 lav mic, it wasn't special. And then I learned how to use my iPhone, the best I could. That was all that was all I could afford at the time. And, and that is good enough. Like I have videos like that, that have a video when I first started shooting on iPhone, it's not a treated room, it sounds echoey. And it sold $100,000 worth of T shirts at what, eight 800 subscribers in three months, it made me 10 grand and made the company 80 grand. And it just kind of went mini viral and it had good value. And that's what mattered. But when you're starting, do some research, listen to some sound samples on YouTube, see some video samples. But understand that you have enough to practice you have a lot going on with getting your voice down in your message, start simple, I would start with a microphone. And start with a simple microphone I have I have several on my desk, but one like this, this is $120 It's a USB microphone. So it's going to plug into your computer. So you're gonna have to kind of sync audio, but it's not a huge investment. And you can do the same with your microphones for your phone, don't spend a ton spend enough that you get good sound, learn how to use your phone, if you do have a camera, learn how to use it. But my camera body is $1,000. I know that sounds expensive. But the YouTube cameras are like $3,500. Like I wouldn't even know how to use it. So start with your audio invest 100 $150 there, learn how to use it because I have had people they have their microphone and they had it turned around or they had it three feet from them. And they're like, my sounds terrible. I have a good microphone, like learn how to use what you have. And then if you are gonna go with cameras, either do a lot of research or you can rent like you mentioned, it's 50 to $100 maybe for a day to rent it or if you're pretty sure you can buy it, just make sure wherever you buy it from has a return policy if you want to do that. But of course, honestly, I think you're you're better off focusing on your sound and giving value than your over what camera you want. If you want a basic camera, I actually have a gear guide where I list all the things I have Fuji for that one you can actually go to go to insider.we are videomakers.com It'll sign you up for my newsletter. But there's two gifts. One is the gear list. And then one is actually a real a little guide on how to set up a YouTube studio in a small space. Because I know that's common. And I know it's a little bit hard because we think I have these big lights and all these things. You don't need all that. So couple of things on there.

Martin Zerrudo 9:00

Oh, fantastic. Please send that to me. Yeah, well, I'd love to be able to leverage some of that information as well. One more time. Can you give us the URL?

Zach Mitchem 9:09

Yeah, so it's insider.wearevideomakers.com

Martin Zerrudo 9:13

Perfect. So Zach, as it relates because obviously for us, we deal with a lot of clients in the ecommerce space selling products online. You know, video content is a key component, especially for Amazon listings that are looking to see how that product can be used, you know, and what lifestyle setting the features, the benefits of it. How important in your experience on the other side is the actual person who's providing that content strategy and sometimes even that creation? Why is it important to have that video content when selling a product?

Zach Mitchem 9:40

Yeah, that's a great question. Especially I mean, so I do I'm an Amazon influencer. So I create live content. So create the shoppable videos that you see above the reviews on Amazon. And when I'm purchasing especially on Amazon, I think most people are this way you want to see reviews, and you want to see it in action. And so when I'm scrolling now that I create these videos I make sure to look out for them. But in when I create those videos, I make sure to give the person the experience. So for microphone, for example, all unbox it really quickly, show them what's like, give them a sound sample, and then give them my, my thoughts on it. Because if I can see someone's being honest, and just sharing their experience, and telling me why I may or may not want this product, it sells it for me. But if it's just, hey, here's a text review that can help. Those are hard to get, especially as a seller, and it the ways that you can get it aren't always you're not going to get the best of reviews. But if you can find people that actually are passionate about the thing that you have to create video content, and they do at least a decent job, it sells it because they know like and trust that person after a few minutes, so yeah, so much more credible. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's, that's why YouTube does so well for selling products, because I can watch a five or 10 minute video of should I buy this or not?

Martin Zerrudo 10:50

How long is usually the turnaround time? If somebody comes to you and say, Hey, I have a bunch of products. I need some videos from Amazon listing, what's usually the range for the cost? And how long is the lead time?

Zach Mitchem 11:00

Yeah, so and that. So for Amazon, I focus on tech gear. So it very much depends I can do so an Amazon Video, it's totally different than a YouTube video, Amazon Video I can do in about a day day and a half. I mean, obviously depends on how much work I have ahead of that. But easily within a week. On YouTube, however, it takes quite a bit more time because my five or six minute YouTube videos typically take about 20 hours or so of editing. So it's quite a bit more. And so that is several weeks to be able to get back because it's an I'm not sending those to the brands. Typically, if I was going to do an ad, it'd be quicker. But it really depends on the product depends on the use case, that's, I have a hard time getting prices because it's like, okay, well, what do you want this for? Do you just want an Amazon shoppable video that I because I have to post those there'll be up there selling your product, but I have to post it? Or do you want the video to run Facebook ads or YouTube ads or these other things because that use case comes with you guys making money. And it'll depend on how we work together. So time is usually it's not too long, as long as and I have other things going on a week or two, unless you want big long YouTube video, sponsored content, something like that. And then price really depends. I do content on tick tock as well. Those are quick, those are less expensive. So there's a range. But I think when I when I talk to content creators, that's the biggest problem we have on our site is what do I charge because there's so many things that go into what the video is, how they're how it's going to be used, how it's not going to be used, you know, what platforms all that good stuff.

Martin Zerrudo 12:35

No, but I want to take a moment really to highlight that, you know, it's an investment, and the price is what you pay, but value really is what you get. Right. And for me, you know, I come from a content creation background, I really appreciate the amount of mental space and time and creative aspect of the work that goes into creating a video a lot of people think like, Hey, you just click Record, move a couple things around, you know, make a couple of quick cuts on on on, on Final Cut Pro or iMovie or whatever, you know what I mean? It's like, yeah, it's really so much more involved than that. And so without specifically saying, you know, certain prices or certain tiers, is there an amount that brands should be aware that, hey, you're you should at least have, you know, 500 bucks, you'd at least have 1500 as a baseline?

Zach Mitchem 13:26

Yeah. Yeah. So the thing I always say to that is one, understand, like you said, it is a process, there's professional gear involved, there's skills, there's hours in editing, there's all this involved in, I actually asked a company one time that was doing some videos for a company that we were working with, like how much if you were to shoot me a video how much you'd be like, well, we give them a special price. So if we gave you that five minute video probably be two or $3,000. That's your special. Okay, cool. So, and that's just for the video. That's not, that's not hiring talent. That's not an audience that these content creators have, you know, blood, sweat, and tears to build. It's not pushing it out in ADS. It's that $3,000 Just to create content. I'm not saying that's what you need to spend. But just understand that that's what people are charging to create videos. And so yeah, I would say if you're offering, look at their work, see what kind of quality they have. But if you're offering less than $1,000 to work with them, you're likely not going to get great creators or creators that know what they're doing. But don't think that means $1,000 per video. What I'm saying here is say I want to work with you. I'll pay at least $1,000 And then look at what they offer can run. I do Amazon shoppable video or YouTube video or Tik Tok. Like there are a lot of different things you can do. But the campaigns for social that do the best are not the one offs. If you're asking a bunch of creators to make one off videos, it's not going to you're essentially paying company to create an ad for you. That's not going to go well or the off chance it might go viral. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. One. The videos that have done the best for me are always month four or five or six or late. So I've created consistent content for this brand. And I now have, I have some videos for a company, and it sells for them. It's like $1,500, every month, I haven't posted a video or talked about this brand in 18 months, but it sells $1,500 a month for them every month for 18 months. So we're gonna say like, understand that social campaigns need to take a longer time, I like to work with brands for multiple months, if they really want to be successful.

Martin Zerrudo 15:29

And the thing is that like, you know, for those who are listening, we want to make it a, I guess I want to put context into it. When you're getting married, you're paying a videographer like 510 15 $20,000, a significant investment. And of course, you're paying for capturing the moment, right? This is your big day, you want to look back on it. Remember forever, you want to share with your loved ones and friends. Great. So the intrinsic value there is capturing the moment. Yeah. So when you look at it now, in terms of an ecommerce perspective, why would you spend less, when there's actually a potential for a return on your investment, it's not like, hey, I want to capture this amazing unboxing. So I can share with my friends and cherish this moment forever, you're actually trying to promote the product in the best way that you can do the investment in this video creation, you know, strategy and service and creation, so that it can make you more money so that it will essentially pay for the investment that you put into creating that that video, do you find that kind of conversation difficult to have with some brands who want to engage in video content creation, but they don't see that intrinsic? Like, hey, the money you put in is the money you're gonna get back on sales? Yeah,

Zach Mitchem 16:32

I'd say as a creator, that's probably the hardest conversation I have is helping brands to understand that I have I have costs, I have cost for my equipment for replacing it for my time, all that good stuff. And they're like, Well, we're sending you $600 worth of product that you'd like. So why isn't that good enough? It's like, well, that's great. I already already have that kind of stuff. I need that stuff. I rent

Martin Zerrudo 16:53

with a seven microphone that I have now.

Zach Mitchem 16:56

Exactly. And it's there are some brands that I'm like, Okay, this could be a long term Good move. And so I'll eat the cost was I have, I have people have to pay, I have editors, I have a VA, like I have costs outside of me. It's not just my time, which is valuable as creators, we devalue that too much. Because sometimes brands do that. And so on them, it's us letting them do that. But it does cost and so Sorry,

Martin Zerrudo 17:22

I lost my train of thought there. No, no, it's okay. But I really see where you're coming from. Because for us, we provide Amazon account management services. Yeah, we go through the pitch and the discovery process. And I want to say eight out of 10 times that, you know, the brand owner gets it. Yeah, you know, I need a service, whether that's content creation, you know, video strategy, or Amazon account management, I recognize that there's a gap in expertise. And this is a service I need to Yeah, but there's that two out of 10, who are like, Yeah, but how about, I pay you like 1000 a month and you handle the whole thing. And then maybe somewhere down the line, if it goes really well, I'll throw you a bone. And here's another brand that you can manage for 1000 a month. And it's like, but there's so much work and effort on the back end to give you the best chance to succeed in selling your product and growing your brand. But there needs to be that initial understanding of value that's being put in which why it which is why it commands that particular price. So I feel you on that, for sure. Zach, is there a case study or a particular brand that you can point to where they came to you and they said, Hey, I need to generate a lot of traffic for this brand for this product rod doing so great. And really feel like, you know, couple of videos could enhance our chances for conversion.

Zach Mitchem 18:32

Now, let me think really quickly, I guess the first. So what I do with my YouTube channel is i i honestly a lot of these products, I just do reviews because I like them. And I'm I know my audience is going to benefit from them. So when a company comes to me from day one, I have to analyze, hey, is this does this fit, but there was a company that and probably gonna go back to this this pre workout company because they did reach out and I've actually worked with them. They were one of the ones that I sent free advice, because they had 150,000 on Instagram. Like, I looked at their YouTube and had 1500. It's like that's how do you only have 1500 on there. Yeah. And so I was like, Okay, let's, let's work on this. Let's improve this. So I reached out on this one, I didn't even create content for them. I did later just because that's the one that actually sells $1,500 a month. But I coached them and I said hey, here's here's how we get value. Here's how we do this, and taught them the strategy as well as SEO SEO is it's less important than people think it is. But it's more important than sometimes you really like it. It's kind of a it's odd because it doesn't do as much as you think I can't make a YouTube ad an ad on YouTube get seen by 1000s of people. But if you have great content, that's an optimized, it's not gonna get seen either. So of course, it's also you can't forget, but it's not the main thing. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we helped them create some better content and their sales on YouTube went up by 2,000% in the first six weeks. So it was it was very simple. It was you I'm just giving value. And so the thing with content creation, and why you want to work with a content creator as a brand, is that if those videos do well, everything else does well, and so what happened with their channel, and if you are a brand, I suggest you have the social media channels, the more views they got, the more YouTube showed their stuff. And so you have that growing. And they gained, they had a five year old channel 15 other subscribers, they went to 2000 in two months, and they started actually making money on there and actually using that as part of their strategy. And other parts of their business just started,

Martin Zerrudo 20:33

as well. I did or.com or their Amazon listing. Yeah, got it. Got it. Talk to us a little bit about Amazon live, Zach, what's the what are the what are the things that are happening there, it's might be a little bit new to some of our FBA sellers who are listening right now.

Zach Mitchem 20:46

Yeah. And this one, especially for your your listeners on Amazon, this is the one I'm most excited for. Because what Amazon live is it's essentially Amazon influencers. And they can do two different things, they can make those shoppable videos that we talked about earlier. And really all that is is if someone watches that clicks it that influencer gets their small commission, those are good. Those actually I know people that are making 789 $10,000 a month just creating those because if you create good ones for a brand they sell well. And so you make a good amount of money there. But the more exciting thing for me is Amazon live where it's live streaming, you have a carousel is what it's called, you get to pick 40 different products that are at the bottom of the video or on the side, depending on where you're watching. And you just go live, it's kind of the Wild West, because they originally started with celebrities. Realize that wasn't the greatest idea. It's a little hard to do. And now they're just letting content creators who have audiences create live content there. So I've seen everything from QVC style. Let me show you how this works and sell you this product to podcast shows on there. It's it's even just interviewing. And typically they'll throw in something like, Hey, what are your favorite Amazon products? Or what do you use for your video content and talk about it that way. But my experience with it is my second month on there have only been on there, I think this is month three or four, I sold $60,000 worth of other companies products. I don't have any products on Amazon, that these companies have reached out to have said, hey, we'll you know, let's work together, I'll create some content for you. I have a couple of strategies that have worked well. And you know, the one company the first one, they let me give away a microphone, they sent me a microphone to us. And we sold $3,000 worth of stuff for them in that first month. And that's extra on top of what they would have sold on Amazon anyway. Wow. That's fantastic. How does somebody initiate an Amazon live services? Yeah. So that's, do you mean sign up for the program? Or do you mean find people who are already in Amazon like,

Martin Zerrudo 22:39

like, if they're listening to this podcast right now they have product or selling on Amazon, they want you to start focusing or featuring it on Amazon live? How would they go about doing that?

Zach Mitchem 22:47

Yeah, that's a great question. I know there's I've seen one or two directories that have Amazon live influencers in them. But I don't actually like I've seen their sites, but I can't find that Amazon directory, like who they have there. So I don't know how that works. If you're a brand, that you can either search for one of those companies, that might not be the easiest thing, because I haven't been able to find it. But you can go into Amazon. And if you go to amazon.com/live, you can watch live streams on there. And I've had several people hop into my live stream, you know, they'll it'll have a theme of the show, basically, you don't have to stick to a niche I do. Because I want to build authority that way. And all my other content rotates around that. But you can hop in there and just say, hey, we have some products that we really think you'd like, can we connect and good Amazon live streamers either have contacted, you know, information on their blog, tell you how to reach out or something like that. So that's, that's what I recommend. Go find, go watch some streams and see them in action and find a streamer you like and try to connect with them.

Martin Zerrudo 23:43

Yeah. And you'd mentioned you had a YouTube channel. Can you mention that channel for us?

Zach Mitchem 23:46

Yeah, yeah. So I'm, We Are Video Makers on YouTube, and Tiktok, as well as Amazon live on Amazon live three days a week. So that's where I create the most content.

Martin Zerrudo 23:56

And how, you know, because when we manage Amazon accounts, we our zone of genius is on the actual marketplace, listing optimization, brand governance, PPC campaigns, DSP, all of that. That's what we manage. But we are very cognizant of the fact that the real players on that marketplace, understand that it's really generating that awareness and traffic off the marketplace and bringing them onto Amazon with the intention to buy. So how important is it for you, you know, in your perspective, as a content creator, to have that outside marketing strategy in place, creating content on different social media platforms that is able to drive that awareness and traffic towards their listing.

Zach Mitchem 24:36

I think it's incredibly important as a brand because if I'm searching for something and depends on the price point of the product, sometimes it's an easy buy and you don't need a ton of lead in but if you're you know 50 $100 Plus, you want it to be top of mind so that when I do have whatever problem comes up your brand is the first one that thought of it's now this is marketing, it's easy, but it's not easy to find those people if you're only focusing on serving ads as we all click off of ads or we swipe up like unless it really speaks to us really, really quickly. We don't like to watch. And so if my favorite YouTuber talks about it, it's top of mind either one, I'm gonna go by it or two. I'll remember it next time that problem comes up. Same with Tik Tok. I feel like tick tock is incredibly underrated. I have a friend who is co founder of a company and they do five figures a month in sales on Tik Tok, because they've learned how to create content for tick tock that speaks well there. And they have creators doing that as well. So if you aren't top of mind and growing a company that someone feels like they should know, like and trust, because they've heard of you so many times, you're likely not going to get the sale. So that's, I feel like it's essential there. And one thing I did want to mention that on Amazon live. So if you do work with an influencer, if someone's searching for a product related to yours, their stream, even if they're not talking about it, if your products in their care, so you can that live stream can pop up on competitors page. So if someone scrolls down, then they see your product in the carousel, they can click into that live and live chat and say, Hey, why do you have this one in your carousel instead of that one? And that live streamer can answer questions about it and actually sell the products that that you're having them promote? No, no, that's

Martin Zerrudo 26:14

totally fantastic. For them. Who are those who are listening? Can you break down the difference between what tick tock is versus Instagram reels versus a YouTube versus Amazon? What are the different? What are the main differentiators between these different platforms where you would create content? And is there a different strategy? per platform? Yeah,

Zach Mitchem 26:36

yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I, I teach when I am coaching people is you want to have and this is more for creators, but it does work for business as well. So you want to have a funnel, we all know what a funnel is. But for social media, the social media funnel looks a little different. So at the top, you want a platform with the most eyeballs. This is not a platform you can sell on it's a platform to get as many people to hear about you. Yep, brand aware. So tick tock, for me, sits at the top of my funnel, because I get like I grew from 100 to 29,000 on tick tock in three months, I can consistently get 1000s of views in a day or two, it just, it's so much so many more eyeballs. So if I'm, for example, using a product in a video, and I mentioned it, that's good, because I'm doing it over and over and over, I try to link people over to my YouTube Next because that's where I go more in depth, I can do a review on the product, I can really talk about pros and cons of a product. But I did that on I've tried doing that on tick tock, it doesn't work it people want to be entertained there. They do like to be taught. So if you have a product that someone can put into some type of content that is funny, or is educational, very, very quickly, you have 10 to 20 seconds. So so short, that can work well. But it's much more difficult. On YouTube, it's much easier, people are searching for those products I can really dig in, people are expecting they'll watch 510 minutes, and I can really I can sell that product and tell people I like it. On YouTube also, both of these you can run ads. But if you have a product YouTube ads typically are going to convert better, at least in my experience tick tock ads is again more brand awareness cells aren't nearly as good as as YouTube. Instagram. I don't use Instagram a ton Instagrams for where I let people connect with me because I their messaging is more engagement. Yes, yeah, much more engagement. I let people know about other content on other platforms, make them aware of things. But Instagram has kind of done some things in itself that I feel like it it makes it hard to get a lot of reach. They're like their their promote pushing video, even though they were photo first, like all this issue. So I don't have a great Instagram strategy other than kind of linking people to other places. But on Amazon live, it really is like people are typically finding you shopping on an Amazon product page. There's you don't have to be afraid to sell. You don't have to be afraid to literally just talk about the product, because that's what we're all here the

Martin Zerrudo 28:59

same reason. Yeah. So buy, sell, or sell. Yep, yep, exactly. No, no, that's fantastic. I feel like Zach, we're just barely scratching the surface. I feel like we got to bring you back to talk a little bit more granularity and even break up some of these topics, even more. But I think there's been a fantastic introductory to we are videomakers to the world of content creation as it relates to different social media platforms and why it's so important in this day and age in ecommerce to really have that off the marketplace, strategy and funnel like you saying in driving that traffic eventually to your listings. You said you were you know, we talked a little bit offline about launching a course tell us a little bit about that.

Zach Mitchem 29:38

Yeah, so I've had so many people asked me What microphone to buy, how to get better sound, how to get their videos to look like mine. And so I've taken the time to create a course to help people make better looking and better sounding videos go over do over some of what gear to buy. I give you a list, things like that talk about things I've used, but really I want to teach you how to use the gear because it doesn't matter what mic Your phone or camera you have, if you know how to use it, well, your content will look great. So we go through lighting, and go through setting up your microphone camera settings. And I do have a couple of bonus modules we're tight, we actually do talk about Amazon live and we talk about for business owners, this will be huge in finding creators that do this, but how to make YouTube videos on product reviews that sell products. And so if you want to find a creator that makes the right type of video, it'd be good to know what that video is. But that's been been a work working are in the works for a little bit. But yeah, that's that's the course just helping creators to make more money build a successful business. And honestly, for businesses like, I do want to do another course where I talk about finding businesses as a creator to work with. And I feel like if you do it right, as a business right now you can find creators that will create incredible content for you and excite products like crazy.

Martin Zerrudo 30:54

No, that's fantastic. Where can people learn more about the course when it can launch and how they can get signed up?

Zach Mitchem 30:58

Yeah, absolutely. So if I like earlier, if you go to Insider.wearevideomakers.com, you'll get my newsletter, and I do talk about the course in there. I don't actually have an easy launch page yet. But if you go to WWE, or videomakers.com, you will find it there. Also, if you want to find me on Amazon, you can go to wearevideomakers.live. That'll take you directly to my Amazon live stream. I do. I should have done this before we hopped on here. I'm going to say this and if it doesn't happen, I'll email you. But if you go to wearevideomakers.course then be able to get to the course

Martin Zerrudo 31:31

I'll let you know on that one. That's fantastic. Thank you so much Zach man, unfortunately have to record another podcast episode in like five minutes. But I come obviously, like I mentioned from content creation, you know posted a different podcast before this one in the past I used to do on camps for like TV show some all about content creation and the behind, you know, the BTS aspect of production. And I really, really appreciate the insight that you're providing as well as as emerges with ecommerce, just how critical role content creation and understanding off marketplace platforms on social media can help drive that traffic. You're, you're in your man, I just talk to you for hours. I just feel like I want to talk to you say we're gonna we're gonna have you back on this show for sure. Before we wrap up. Anybody you want to shout out anybody in your your journey towards being an entrepreneur, launching your own brand, you know, we are video makers, you know, stepping into this ecommerce space and providing content creation strategy. Who do you want to give a shout out to who's really helped you in your journey?

Zach Mitchem 32:30

Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I like that. And yes, to shout out people. John Shanahan has actually been a really big influence on me, good friend. He runs the Cavalier on YouTube, but his most recent adventure has been strict, which is a makeup for men actually, that they're just on Shark Tank. So they've been doing some pretty good work there. I've had a lot of mentors. But one, one group, one mentor that's really helped me is Chris doe. He runs the future on YouTube. He also has a pro group that I'm a part of,

Martin Zerrudo 32:59

is that it's a bald guy with the hat here. Yep.

Zach Mitchem 33:03

You know him. Yeah, yeah. Do Oh, I

Martin Zerrudo 33:05

gotta talk to him. I love that video. He did. Like how much should I charge? Yeah, that his you want to hire us? I love that video. Yep,

Zach Mitchem 33:11

his content is amazing. And his group has helped me a ton. But he's actually a minimal speak with him a few times helped me some difficult situations and his mafia favorite video of his iki guy where he talks about basically finding the thing that you love that can help the world the most. So, yeah, oh, that's amazing. And last, last of all, my wife, she works full time. She does business operations for a team of 1800 people. No, it's a stay at home dad and do my thing. Even though sometimes don't make a whole lot of money with it. Sometimes it does really, really well. But you know, ups and downs of the entrepreneur, but she's been there to support me through all of it with two kids, we have a third on the way so it's, uh, it's been good.

Martin Zerrudo 33:49

You know what, man, it's almost sometimes these things just manifest and they come together. I do want to you know, since we're talking about shoutouts, and I appreciate you mentioning those people who really helped you in your journey. When you touch on having a fantastic wife who helped you out to stay at home and pursue your dreams. I want to give a personal shout out. He's a good friend of mine. He was actually at my wedding. His name was James res. You can find him on YouTube as the box office artists. Great, great guy. And, you know, unfortunately, his wife passed away last year. But as he was building his YouTube channel, and pursuing his dream of creating art, and creating videos and posting it on YouTube, she was working full time, and he was able to stay at home. And so for you to mention that you have a wife who's helping you do that. I've seen it firsthand for the last 10 years of this guy really grinding it out and seeing how much his wife had supported him. So shout out to your wife. What's her name?

Zach Mitchem 34:42

Ali Ali Mitchum?

Martin Zerrudo 34:43

Shout out to you, Ali. And to our listeners out there both husband and wife, whichever partner is listening right now and you know that you have a significant other that's chasing the dream specifically in content creation. It's not easy, and it's not the most profitable maybe at the beginning, maybe at the middle and maybe not even at the end but it's in the past. pursuit of these creative ventures that really define us as content creators. So shout out to ally shout out to our listeners who are doing that for your significant others. And shout out to Zach. Thank you so much, man. This episode started off talking about like, making videos to sell products. And now we're talking about honoring our, our wives husbands are the ones who help us in our journey. So we're definitely bringing you back Zach on the show. Appreciate that. And yeah, where can people find you and learn more about all the amazing things that you're doing?

Zach Mitchem 35:27

Yeah, yeah. So you, We Are Video Makers pretty much everywhere I have wearevideomakers.tube. They'll take you to my YouTube. Wearevideomakers.live is my Amazon. Tick tock at wearevideomakers, and then wearevideomakers.com If you want to email me get in touch that way or see what we have going on there.

Martin Zerrudo 35:45

Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Zach, we're gonna have you back on the show again. We are videomakers.com Zach Mitchem and founder overall awesome guy who was great to meet you and we'll definitely have to in the future. Thank you again, sir. Okay, thank you.

Outro 36:01

Thanks for listening to the What Do You Do Next? podcast. Make sure to tune in again next time and make sure to click subscribe to get updates on future episodes. Take care.

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