Is Nextdoor App Right for Your Small Business Marketing?

Some small businesses are considering using the Nextdoor app to promote their products and services. Is the social network platform worth your attention?

Here's a breakdown of how Nextdoor works and why it may be a good fit for your small business marketing needs.

All About Local Exposure

If you have a brick-and-mortar store or offer local services, promoting your business on an app like Nextdoor - where neighbors talk to each other and with those in adjacent communities - could help you get the exposure you need to boost sales.

"Nextdoor isn't your average social media platform," writes Tech.co senior writer Conor Cawley in a blog about advertising on Nextdoor.

Unlike most other social media platforms, all users are required to verify their addresses prior to using the app so that they may be placed in the neighborhoods they live in.

"Subsequently, rather than a timeline of friends from all around the world, your news feed consists exclusively of fellow neighbors in your area that are looking for information on local issues, selling old desks, and so on," says Cawley in the Tech.co post.

"For businesses, this provides a unique opportunity from an advertising perspective, giving them access to a local audience that is not only present, but also engaged in the goings-on around the area."

According to data provided by Nextdoor, 88 percent of users shop at local businesses at least once a week, while 67 percent provide recommendations to other neighbors.

How it Works

Like other social media platforms, businesses can sign up for free on Nextdoor, plus you get two free posts a month. Your business page builds up followings through recommendations and reviews.

Nextdoor offers several different ways to advertise, including the oft-touted Local Deals, a feature that lets businesses share promotions, and special or discounted offers to a specific neighborhood. 

"The cost of these deals can vary from a few cents to a couple hundred dollars, with the average cost coming in at around $75," Cawley explains in the Tech.co blog. "The price depends on the number of people you're targeting and the duration of the deal."

The Nextdoor Metrics

According to a post by the social media management firm Hootsuite, small businesses want to pay attention to the Nextdoor Recommendations metric.

"The number of recommendations you receive, and the quality of those recommendations is key in driving organic growth," writes Zak Ramdani in the Hootsuite blog. 

Another metric, Nextdoor Neighborhoods, indicates the number of neighborhoods your business profile can be seen. "To show up in more neighborhoods, earn recommendations from them," says Ramdani, who specializes in enterprise SEO.

Nextdoor Neighbors will show the number of people who sees your business on the app. Meanwhile, Organic Neighborhood Reach - which Cawley calls "arguably one of the most important metrics" on the platform - tells you how many neighborhoods you can be seen in without a promotion.

This metric tracks how you're doing when engaging specific sections of the neighborhood, Cawley says.

 "It can help you pick target areas, informing your promotion strategy before you've even taken your first steps," he writes in the Tech.co blog.

"Always make sure you're plugged into this dashboard to get the full picture of your impact on the neighborhood, before making any big decisions on promotion."

Who's on Nextdoor?

Compared to other social media platforms, usage on Nextdoor ranks in the lower tiers, according to the results of a Pew Research Center survey released in April 2021. 

The most widely used online platforms in the U.S. are YouTube and Facebook, with 81 percent and 69 percent, respectively, reporting ever using these sites, compared to 13 percent of those surveyed who say they're ever on Nextdoor.

According to the Pew Center Research data, 40 percent of adults in the U.S. report ever using Instagram. One-quarter of those surveyed say they ever use Snapchat, Twitter and WhatsApp, and TikTok is used by 21 percent of Americans, the data shows.

Who's on Nextdoor? The Pew Research Center data said adults living in urban (17%) or suburban (14%) areas are more likely to say they use Nextdoor, while 2 percent of rural Americans report using the site.