The burgeoning costs of marketing amidst the pandemic era have taken their toll on smaller businesses. It’s hard to generate sales because customers aren’t roaming around the streets looking for things to buy nowadays. But it’s possible to promote your business with revenue coming in through Nextdoor Ads.
“The coming changes to how people consume advertising is making it tough for local businesses to find effective ad inventory. Newspapers, local TV, and radio don’t provide the same reach and yet continue to charge the same amount.” Craig Rhode, the Director of Digital Strategy at Romain Berg, says.
“It’s important for local businesses to grow their sphere of influence. NextDoor allows local businesses to promote to a hyper-local group that may not be on Facebook. As a business, this is important to embrace because you’re reaching out to new people, but also improving the reach of people who might be on Facebook but not active.”
You can always find affordable advertising services ready to take your call. But if you’re looking for a hands-on approach to your local marketing strategy, Nextdoor may have the solution to this problem. It is a solid advertising option for cash-strapped local businesses.
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Let’s Talk About Nextdoor Ads
Nextdoor is a local social network platform designed for neighbors who want to connect with other people nearby or within the same zip code. They can share hobbies, announce community news and events, and engage in buying and selling, among other ideas.
It is thought to help neighbors become an even more tightly knit community than ever before. There are two reasons why this is possible on Nextdoor.
First, people need to confirm and verify their identity from their email addresses before signing up for the platform. You do not have to hide behind the shroud of anonymity and force people to engage as their true selves.
Another reason is that political discourse and hostility are highly discouraged from the platform. It even has a Kindness Reminder feature that requests users to edit their aggressive and confrontational posts, allowing users to focus on discussing topics related to connecting with nearby users in a positive manner.
The reasons stated above should also encourage businesses that advertising on Nextdoor Ads is the way to go.
“Nextdoor is very comparable to Facebook but will be a bit more expensive. That extra cost is worth it because of the benefits of the hyper-targeting NextDoor provides for businesses. It’s verified users that work, play, and live in the area. That type of data is always going to be worth the extra cost.” says Rhode.
This unique social platform allows users to directly connect with real people nearby who are ready to hear what you have to offer. Therefore, whether you’re a friendly real estate agent or a humble mom-and-pop shop owner, Nextdoor helps give your business that extra boost.
How to Use Nextdoor to Attract More Customers
The first step is signing up for a business account to get hold of features to promote your local shop to neighbors. Local businesses can set up their business page on Nextdoor Ads at no cost to them.
Next, you need to furnish your profile by adding your logo, contact information, business categories, and more. Filling these out will help make your business much more legit and authentic in the eyes of your neighbors.
From here, they will be able to use the platform’s Nextdoor Ad Center, where you can run Neighborhood Sponsorships to help grow your business.
Next are the directions to follow from the advertising program.
Run local Ads
The local deal you’ll be running will be shown all over the website to people within your set ZIP codes. You can promote your available discounts and promos for your business. Set the duration of the campaign to last from 7 to 30 days.
Using local Ads is a way to make a splash in the community by introducing your business at lowered prices. It helps people get a good deal and informs your neighbors about your goods and services.
To create an ad, you must enter a unique 120 character description of the deal. You also need to add a link to your website and a unique redeem code (if applicable).
Finally, you must select the audience of your ad by choosing the right neighborhood or postal code.
Before publishing the ad, you need to settle a one-time payment with Nextdoor Ads. The average cost of a local ad hovers around $75.
Check out the Nextdoor case study about how Siete Foods used sponsored posts targeted for users’ zip codes close to retailers selling their products.
Posts messages
All pages on Nextdoor run by small businesses can publish two posts in a month to promote their products or services, share special offers, and others.
Aside from the goal of converting ad views into sales, the advertising program helps you spread the word about your business. You don’t always have to market your business to turn your neighbors into customers. With just the right business post, you can help build awareness of what your business is about.
Communicate with customers
For business profiles, business account holders such as yourself send a message to neighbors in two ways.
The first is when neighbors have left a comment on your post. You can directly reply to their comment to keep the conversation going.
The next is through direct message. You can either send a DM straight to one of your neighbors or reply to their DM to you.
As far as gaining customers is concerned, how you respond to them could determine how far your local business will go. Take the opportunity to build positive relationships with each of them and avoid engaging in any digital hostility.
Launch polls
A poll is an excellent way to gain insights from neighborhoods regarding your business. Instead of coming up with ideas from thin air, you can take your finger to the pulse of the community to get actual answers.
You can take heed of what the majority decides on and build your business from there.
Below are examples of poll questions you may want to run on Nextdoor Ads:
- Suggestions on what they would like to see on your business profile
- Ideas for ways on how they can best interact with your business
- How frequently do they want to see posts coming from you
- How do they want news and updates delivered to them
- Ask a question with a yes or a no response
There will be more questions you can run polls for that are specific to your business. But these ideas above should help inspire you to come up with even better ones later.
Gather feedback
From their free business profiles, you can gather reviews and recommendations from users, which you can leverage as social proof for your business. Rather than telling people how great your business is, it’s even better for your satisfied customers to share their story with your brand. This way, the feedback comes from someone not related to your business and happens to enjoy what you have to offer.
At the same time, Nextdoor reviews hold more weight compared to ratings from other sites where people can create positive reviews under the guise of fake profiles.
To collect user reviews, click on Your Reputation from the left-side menu of your dashboard. From here, you can copy a link to a page in your profile where people can leave a review about your business.
Use the link to collect customer feedback. You can share a link on social media, blast it to your email list, or place its link on your website. The goal here is to get as much feedback as possible to help increase your credibility. The more reviews you receive, the more social proof your business can show.
Ideally, you want all feedback to be positive. However, if you receive negative reviews, take it in stride, ask the person how you can help make their experience much better.
Where You Can Turn For Information as You Navigate Nextdoor
When marketing your business gets tough, you need to take matters into your own hands. Among the platforms out there as of late, Nextdoor Ads offers you the best and most reasonable chance of making an indelible impression with real people looking for real businesses.
If you need help with running local ads and managing your business profile on the platform, reach out to us today.
