Using Nextdoor To Promote Your Small Business

Being a nosy neighbor has never been easier. Nextdoor is a social media app designed to connect residents within neighborhoods. Neighbors can stay up to date on the latest gossip surrounding off-leash dogs, vans cruising streets, and doorstep images caught on Ring’s surveillance camera. Businesses, both large and small, have begun noticing Nextdoor’s popularity and are leveraging the app within their marketing strategies. Learn how and why your marketing strategy should also be including Nextdoor by reading on. 

Why It’s Good For Business

Local businesses now have a place to reach their audience more directly. There are many neighborhood conversations asking for service-related business recommendations. Nextdoor has made information highly shareable once a company claims their profile. When a neighbor makes a recommendation in the comment section of a post, the business information is made available. If you don’t have an account on Nextdoor, don’t let that valuable piece of internet real estate sit unclaimed.

Businesses best suited for Nextdoor are:

• Service-related: Electricians, plumbers, IT, lawn care, and more.
• Salons
• Restaurants
• Spas
• Hotels
• Retail
• Residential real estate
• Commercial real estate
• Tutors
• All businesses!

How To Claim Your Business On Nextdoor

To use Nextdoor for your business, you first have to claim your account. But, the process is simple. 

Claiming your business page:

• You must be an employee or owner of the company. 
• Determine if you’re a “neighbor for hire” or a “professional business.” 
• Search for your company name in the directory.
• Click ‘claim’ next to your business name.
• Follow the prompts.
• Set up your business page. You can even use your logo and other branding assets. 
• Create your strategy before jumping into the conversations. The next section will cover this in more detail.

You can claim up to 10 pages under one account. This is good news if you have multiple businesses or locations.

Marketing Business Once You Create Your Nextdoor Account 

Nextdoor is an excellent opportunity to increase your local business. You’re reaching hyper-local prospects that are verified. This means their personal account has been authenticated, and all under one application for your business to easily reach. But, you need to do it the right way. This isn’t the place to post inspirational quotes or memes. Through Nextdoor, you can have real, meaningful conversations with your target audience. 

Advertising on Nextdoor is only permitted if you:

• Are a realtor or broker
• Have a $15K per month advertising budget

If you don’t fall into either of the two categories above, don’t worry. There is still plenty of opportunities for you to use Nextdoor to promote your business. 

There are some best practice guidelines to follow when you’re using Nextdoor as a business: 

• Make sure to list your business on Nextdoor. See the above section on how to claim your business and follow the steps.
• If you have a personal profile, add your business information to it.
• Fill out your business and personal profile information. 
• Never, ever spam your neighbors. Randomly promoting your business in conversations that are not relevant will only give you a bad reputation. 
• Keep your responses transparent, genuine, and honest.

The Deal About Local Deals On Nextdoor

Not many local companies have ad budgets like the big box names. But luckily, there are still advertising affordable options. These are called “local deals.” 

Local Deals allow businesses to promote themselves through coupons and deals only available within the app. 

Deals you can run:

• Holiday specials 
• Price reduction ads
• Fixed price ads
• BOGO offers
• New neighborhood/zip code specials

Your deals must run a minimum of 7 days and up to 30 days. Ads are visible immediately after posting them. 

In conclusion, with over 27 million active monthly users, and 236K defined neighborhoods, Nextdoor is poised for more significant growth. It’s one of the only social platforms where you won’t immediately be drowned out by the noise. By learning how to use Nextdoor effectively now, you’re setting your business ahead of the upcoming wave.