Have you heard of Nextdoor? It’s a social media platform that lets users connect with other people in their neighborhood.
Operating across 11 different countries and with over 88 million users, (known on the platform as “neighbors”), it’s a place for people to talk about the places they live in.
You might have not thought of using it to promote your products or service. However if you’re a business with a local presence, it’s well worth investigating.
Let’s explore how to advertise on Nextdoor and make the most of this small but hyper-focused social media networking site.
Key Takeaways
- Nextdoor’s platform allows businesses to reach users based on their neighborhood, enabling highly targeted advertising to potential customers nearby.
- Business owners can connect with users by participating in neighborhood discussions and offering helpful contributions rather than just promoting products or services.
- Nextdoor advertisements can increase visibility for your business within specific neighborhoods or target demographics.
- Showcase your business’s involvement in local events, sponsorships, or initiatives to build trust and rapport with Nextdoor users.
- Nextdoor’s community-driven nature can encourage satisfied customers to share their experiences, recommendations, and reviews, amplifying your business’s reach organically.
What Is Nextdoor?
Nextdoor is a social media platform and mobile app for communities and neighborhoods, founded in the US in 2011.
Users can ask for recommendations, sell items they no longer want, and share stories about what’s great about where they live.
The unique selling point of the platform is that it’s hyperlocal. When you sign up, you enter your zip code or postcode and join a network of people in your local town, city, or region – known as a “neighborhood”. From there you can:
- Ask a question or make a comment.
- Sell or give away items.
- Create an event.
- Say thank you to someone.
- Set up a poll.
- Post about an incident or criminal activity.
What does this mean for you? If you run a localized business advertising on Nextdoor could be a valuable addition to your social media marketing strategy.
Nextdoor has a distinct demographic that other social media platforms don’t share. 64 percent of users are female, while 45 percent are over 55.
Compare this with Facebook, where only 21 percent of users are over 55.
How Can Nextdoor Help My Business?
At this point, you might be thinking: “Neil, I’m already on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X… the last thing I need is another social media platform to manage!”
However, establishing a presence on Nextdoor could bring fantastic benefits, especially if building strong local relationships is important to your business:
- You can increase brand awareness and build strong customer relationships with those most likely to buy.
- You can target those more likely to visit your brick-and-mortar store or use your local services, potentially meaning a lower customer acquisition cost.
- You can generate referrals and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
- You can network and collaborate with key figures in your community, including politicians, journalists, bloggers, and other businesses.
- You can keep up to date with all the news and developments in your area, using this to leverage your marketing.
- You can understand your local customers’ preferences better, meaning you can market to them more effectively.
What Is Nextdoor Paid Advertising?
Nextdoor paid advertising is when you pay to promote your business in the feeds of people that live and work in your neighborhood.
Nextdoor business advertising lets businesses promote products and services in the form of Local Deal ads, which you can use to highlight discounts and special offers. I’ll tell you more about Local Deals later.
You can also use Nextdoor advertising if you’re a national or international business. Hoover used Nextdoor Brand Advertising to target homeowners and encourage them to buy its products from their local store – doubling its return on ad spend!
How to Create a Business Page on Nextdoor
You need a business page to advertise on Nextdoor. This free page acts as a hub for your business, like a company page on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Here’s how to set one up.
Step 1: Create Your Business Page
If you already have a personal Nextdoor account, you can add a business page by clicking on your profile photo and selecting “add business page.”
You can choose whether to manage your business page with your personal account or create a new business account. You may want to keep your work and personal use of Nextdoor separate.
If you don’t have a personal account, you can get started with a business account here.
You can claim up to ten business pages per Nextdoor account, which is ideal if you operate in multiple locations.
Step 2: Provide Your Details
Nextdoor will ask you for your:
- Business name.
- Business address. You can hide this on your page.
- Business category. You can choose as many as you need.
- Logo or profile photo. This is optional but helps your business stand out and builds trust in prospective customers. Make sure you use the same logo across all your social media profiles for consistency.
- Contact details. Your email, phone number, and website URL are publicly displayed on your page. Alternatively, you can opt to only be contactable through Nextdoor.
After this, your page is live and ready to go!
Step 3: Verify Your Nextdoor Business Page
Depending on the business you run and the country you operate in, Nextdoor may ask you to verify your Nextdoor business page before you can post. This shows prospective clients that your details are correct and that you operate a genuine place of business.
If you need to verify your business, you’ll see a notification on your page. This will allow you to complete verification via a phone call or text and upload the documents that prove who you are. For example, a bank account statement, a utility bill, or a government-issued business license.
Your documents must clearly display your business name as it is on Nextdoor and be dated within 90 days where applicable.
Step 4: Optimize Your Nextdoor Business Page
Think of your Nextdoor business page as a landing page on your website. You want to make it engaging, simple to read, and easy for prospective clients to take action.
Here are some of my top tips for making the most of your Nextdoor business page:
- Include your website, email address, and phone number. This makes it as easy as possible for people to contact you.
- Add your business hours so customers can see when you’re open.
- Upload a logo and cover photo for your page. Use your cover photo strategically – for example, if you run a restaurant, use it to show off your delicious food.
- There’s a section for telling your business story. Use this to explain why you do what you do and why you love your local community. Tell your prospective customers a story!
5 Nextdoor Advertising Strategies to Implement
Whether you’re looking to launch your new business or refresh your e-commerce social media marketing strategy, Nextdoor could be a worthy addition to your marketing stack.
With a bit of effort, you can see great results!
Here are five Nextdoor business advertising strategies to help you stand out from the crowd and get local people talking about your brand.
1. Ask Customers to Leave Nextdoor Recommendations
A recommendation is an endorsement of your business on Nextdoor. These show other users that you’re reliable, trustworthy, and provide fantastic service.
Nextdoor doesn’t allow customers to leave a review or rating for businesses, so recommendations are the next best thing!
Customers can view your recommendations by looking at your Nextdoor business page.
You need to have three recommendations before Nextdoor will list you in the search results, so it’s worth getting recommendations as soon as possible after you launch your page.
The best way to get recommendations on Nextdoor is to ask. Ask friends, family, and customers to sign up on Nextdoor and recommend your business. They can do this by going to your page or tagging you by typing “@” and your business name.
2. Engage With Neighbors
Social media works best when you treat it as a two-way street. It’s essential to communicate with prospective customers and provide value to them.
The same logic applies to Nextdoor. To get the most out of it and make more people aware of you, you need to engage with other users regularly and consistently. You can do this by:
- Asking questions and sharing relevant or entertaining content.
- Recommending and favoriting other businesses.
- Liking, commenting, and sharing posts in your newsfeed.
- Welcoming new neighbors who join the platform.
- Joining groups and engaging.
Remember the 80/20 rule – 80 percent of your content should be entertaining and informative, while 20 percent should be promotional!
3. Share Business Posts
You can post directly from your Nextdoor business page, providing an excellent opportunity to share updates about your business and talk to the people in your community.
As long as you’ve verified your page, you can share as many posts as you want for free. Bear in mind that Nextdoor might restrict your access if it considers your posts spam or harmful. For example, if you post similar content multiple days in a row or spread misinformation.
Posts appear in your neighborhood newsfeed, as well as in the feeds of people who have Faved your business page.
A great way to get people talking when it comes to advertising on Nextdoor is to use polls. You can use them to drive engagement and get valuable data to help your business grow.
4. Create Local Deal Ads
Have you got a special offer to promote to prospective customers? Local Deal Ads will promote your deal to customers inside and outside your neighborhood, promoting your business to new customers and giving people a good reason to try you out.
Your ad will be available in the following places:
- The Local Deals section of the website and mobile app.
- The neighborhood newsfeed
- The Daily Digest email
- On your business page and in the business section.
- In the relevant search results.
Unlike other paid social platforms that charge per click, the cost of Local Deal ads is calculated using the number of days you share your deal and the number of neighbors who will see it. The average cost of a Local Deal is about $75.
Here’s how to set up your first Nextdoor Advertising Local Deal:
- Choose Posts on your business page and click Get Started.
- Decide which type of ad you want to use: Percent off, fixed discount, buy one get one free, or a custom ad.
- Create your ad, decide the duration, and upload a photo.
- Choose how big you want your audience to be – this can be up to a radius of ten miles around your business.
- Provide your payment information – you can save this for future ads.
5. Track and Measure Performance
Nextdoor offers a range of performance metrics so you can see which of your ads are doing well and where there’s room for improvement.
You can view the Nextdoor advertising dashboard from your business profile. Here you can see:
- Number of impressions. How many users see your posts or ads.
- Number of clicks. How many users click on your posts or ads.
- Click-through rate (CTR).The percentage of users that click on your posts or ads.
You can also amend and pause your existing ads.
Why not try some A/B testing with your Nextdoor advertising? Try different images, copy, and offers to see which leads to the most conversions.
FAQs
Do Nextdoor Ads Reach Real People?
Yes. People need to enter their address when they sign up and verify that they live in a specific neighborhood – meaning you’re advertising to genuine customers.
Do You Have to Be a Local Business to Advertise on Nextdoor?
No – national and international businesses can promote their products and services on Nextdoor too.
What are the Costs Associated with Nextdoor Advertising?
Local Deal Ads can cost as little as $3, but the average cost for a campaign is $75.
If you’re a national or international business that wants to advertise, costs are available on demand.
Conclusion
Fifty-five percent of shoppers buy locally at least once a month. That means a lot of sales and revenue for your local business.
If you want to raise brand awareness in your community and encourage your target audience to visit your store, advertising on Nextdoor could be a savvy move.
My final tip? Promote your Nextdoor account across all your marketing platforms, like your other social media accounts, email signature, and website. The more people who are aware of your account, the more benefits you’ll see from your Nextdoor advertising!
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