Local marketing is critical to small businesses that depend on the surrounding community to bring in business. This is especially true for those who need actual foot traffic to come into their brick and mortar location. One option to really focus on local marketing for your business is through Nextdoor. Keep reading to learn how to use Nextdoor for your local small business marketing.

What is Nextdoor?

NextdoorNextdoor describes itself as a local hub to connect and share with the neighborhood. Its where communities come together to keep a local shopkeeper in business. Where neighbors exchange recommendations for babysitters, plans for local events, and tips about what to order at that new cafe down the street. Nextdoor is all about word of mouth, where people can refer businesses and ask for suggestions on just about any kind of business out there. Businesses are central to the Nextdoor community. In fact, more than 25% of all conversations on the app are about them. Not just that, 67% of members share business recommendations with their neighbors. While there are also the occasional lost dog posts and Ring doorbell video shares, the majority of Nextdoor is about businesses. The Nextdoor app is now used in more than 260,000 neighborhoods in 11 countries worldwide, including the United States, where one in five households are active on the app. To date, businesses have earned upward of 40 million recommendations.

How businesses can use Nextdoor

dealThere are several great opportunities to market your business on Nextdoor, including:

  • Running local deals for your business
  • Engaging with the local community through Q&A sessions
  • Posting upcoming business events
  • Leverage recommendations from others about your business
  • Drive in-person and online sales

Your presence on Nextdoor can be as basic or robust as you choose it to be, depending on the amount of time and budget you want to dedicate to the platform.

Getting started on Nextdoor

Businesses can create a profile for free on Nextdoor. Simply go to the home page and create a personal profile first, then you can create a business profile. You cannot have a business profile on Nextdoor without creating a personal one first. Once you have created a personal profile, follow these steps to create a business profile:

  1. Visit www.nextdoor.com/create-business.
  2. Login to your account.
  3. Choose whether you plan to use your personal email or a business email. We recommend the latter.
  4. Add your business name and address. Hit search.
  5. The platform will provide a list of businesses and ask you to confirm whether one of them is yours. If not, select Create a new business page with this name.
  6. Fill in your address and click Continue.
  7. Add email neighbors can contact you with. You may also add a phone number and website.
  8. Select a business category. Click Create a new business page.

Next, you will want to set up your business profile. It is relatively straightforward, asking you to upload a logo and a cover photo, add your business story, and add your contact info (address, telephone number email, etc.). You will also have the opportunity to add more detailed categories to define your business better. You will also want to add photos to the gallery to make your profile more interesting.

Start marketing your business

recommendationWith a completed business profile, it is time to start marketing your business locally! Here are a few ways to do that:

  1. Run a local deal
  2. Answer questions in the Q&A section
  3. Ask for recommendations from others (you will want to get at least 3 to make your profile visible online!)

Hootsuite created a great guide on how businesses can use Nextdoor, including some great screenshots to make the process easier.

The key to success with Nextdoor is consistency. Treat it like a social media platform, which means be consistent in your activity, constantly try to make connections with other local people, ask for recommendations, and run deals to help your business stand out.

Advertising on Nextdoor

While Nextdoor is free and can be effective without spending a dime, advertising can help get your business in front of even more eyes locally. Here are the options you have to use paid advertising on Nextdoor:

  1. Local deals – you can run them for as low as $1 a day
  2. Neighborhood sponsorship – Certain types of businesses can purchase a Neighborhood Sponsorship on Nextdoor. With a Neighborhood Sponsorship, these businesses can create automated ad placements on Nextdoor and post to the Newsfeed in targeted ZIP code(s).
  3. Sponsored posts – Sponsored posts are posts created by businesses who are participating in our paid advertising program. Sponsored post advertising is only available for larger regional or national companies.

This local platform can be a valuable way for local businesses to reach more local customers. Understanding how to use Nextdoor for your local small business marketing can give you options for growing your revenue and increasing your business’s presence in the local community.

Patty Hughes
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