Weekly Wisdom: Nanocasting with Dom O‘Neill

Modified Transcript

When I started out creating content, I was told that a video for everybody is a video for nobody. The audience is the most important thing when we are storytelling, doesn't matter if we are telling a huge story in a Hollywood feature or we are telling a short story in a private video message on LinkedIn; we need to know who the audience is, what their pain points are, and what they want.

Welcome to this week's Weekly Wisdom video from SEMrush. I am Dom O'Neill, and I run a company called Vlogify, and I help businesses make more money using video strategy.

What is Nanocasting?

One of the strategies I like to use is nanocasting. It is sending private video messages to people we know, who like us, who trust us, and who already buy from us. So we are sending private messages to those people, saying the right things at the right time to create a conversation.

We are not selling; we are creating conversations, which can lead to sales.

Who are your Superstar Clients?

For most businesses, especially SMEs, 80% of the income each year will come from 20% of the clients. That 20%, they are the superstar clients. Those are the clients I encourage my clients to do more business with — it makes so much more sense.

Obviously, getting new clients is excellent, but making the most out of our current superstar clients makes perfect sense. They already know us, like us, trust us, and they already have payment processes set up, so they can do business with us easily. It is all about creating content specifically for individuals who are our superstar client.

How To Nanocast

The best way to send these videos is in private messenger, and my clients get excellent returns with LinkedIn. These days, you can attach videos directly from LinkedIn private messenger.

If your video is under one minute long, you can send videos within private messages, which is great because you don't have to attach a link to YouTube. Clearly, we do not want to spam our superstar clients. They are our superstars. We have good relationships with them. We have known them for a while, and they give us quite a bit of our income, so we don't want to spam them.

We don't want to put them off. A strategy:

A really good way of getting engagement is to ask for their opinion. You ask for their opinion on this video. For example, I have worked with clients who have created a new product, which their superstars haven't bought yet.

This is the message they sent with the video; it was asking an opinion.

They said, "Hello," obviously, and then they asked for an opinion. "I have created this new product. I have this new video explaining the product. Could you take some time and give me your opinion on the video." People like being asked for their opinions. It shows that they are important, and it shows that you respect them.

Another way to think about asking a question or asking an opinion is you are turning your audience from passive into active. They are much more likely to engage with that content because you have asked them a question rather than just showing the video.

What Happens Next?

Usually, because you and your superstar client know each other well, they will get back to you, and they will give you some kind of feedback. It comes in three ways.

1). They only give you feedback, and that is it, and that is fair enough.

2). Feedback's always useful, or they might say to you, and I have seen this many times before, "This isn't right for me, but actually I know someone who it would be right for."

What you want them to do is connect you to the third party; this is why LinkedIn is so useful for this strategy because they can directly connect you.

Again, if you have got a good relationship with these people, there is a good chance that they will help you with that.

3). The third part is my favorite. When a client gets back to you, they have already educated a new audience that you offer something the person may need or want. Then that starts a conversation. You may not get a sale straight away, but it starts the conversation. They now know that you do something, which can make their life easier, which can make their business run better.

What You Can Do

Create private videos or private video content for your superstar clients.
Find their pain points and create content which shows that you can fix those pain points.
Sending messages at the right time of year.
When sending private messages, ask questions and ask for advice.
Don't just send out messages. You should not be spamming.
Build relationships and create conversations, and those conversations can then lead to more sales.

Knowledge is power. You are giving your superstar clients more knowledge about what you do and how you can help them. If you have any questions, I always love to chat. I am on LinkedIn all the time; just for search me. I am Dom O'Neill, the Vlogging Guy. Thank you very much for listening. Take care.