Why Should I Use Nextdoor Advertising?

2022 has brought a lot of surprises to the macro environment for both marketers and consumers. A new favorite game we’ve started playing across the social ads team at Tuff is “which prices increased more this week” – gas prices at our local gas station, or CPMs for our Facebook campaigns. For some of our partners, CPMs for Facebook campaigns have risen by 30%+ in the last 60 days, with no sign of slowing down as advertisers fight to get in front of their target audiences. 

If you’re one of the countless businesses or agencies across the world (and the metaverse), you’ve likely noticed that your reliable paid acquisition channels look a little less reliable these days. You may be wanting to see if your spend can go a little bit further on another channel. So, you ask yourself, “Why not try a new channel? I’ve heard about Nextdoor advertising. What about testing that out”?

Well, you’ve come to the right place. 

Why Use Nextdoor?

Is Nextdoor effective? Does Nextdoor advertising work? How much does Nextdoor advertising cost? As you might’ve guessed, the answer is, “it depends.” As a growth marketing agency, we work with all types of partners with a variety of needs. Many of them use Nextdoor with great success, for some, it doesn’t make sense as part of their marketing mix. 

The first of many considerations you have to make when you’re thinking about using Nextdoor is “Why?”. Maybe Simon Sinek was onto something when he said to start with “why”. The first real question you should ask yourself when considering Nextdoor isn’t “should I?”. It’s “Why should I?”.

There are a few reasons why you would consider using Nextdoor: 

• Your target audience is there
• Your competitors use Nextdoor advertising
• You need to differentiate spend away from rising costs on your Facebook Ads

Regardless of your reason, there’s a why, and you should unearth that before you move on to the next step.

Can I Reach My Audience Using Nextdoor Advertising?

According to Nextdoor there are nearly 1 in 3 U.S. households already on Nextdoor. These neighbors are motivated to support local businesses.

More than that, 88% of Nextdoor users frequent a local business at least once a week and they make 90% of their purchases within 15 miles of their work or home. Nextdoor neighbors love to spread the word.

If you’re a business with a local storefront or local events, then this should be appealing to you. Understanding that every social platform has slightly different behavior, you can leverage Nextdoor’s ability to generate local behavior in a way that you can’t with Facebook or TikTok.

What Targeting Options Exist on Nextdoor Advertising? 

By default, Nextdoor will deliver your ads to all audiences within your selected locations. You can uncheck this default setting though and get access to more demographic targeting options

As of the time of this article, Nextdoor does not have targeting that is as robust as some of the other demographic targeting platforms such as Facebook, but it does give you some pretty interesting homeownership and interest targeting options that you can leverage. 

Are Nextdoor Ads Expensive?

Nextdoor ads are comparable in cost to other paid social channels. Nextdoor works on an auction system so you’re bidding on placements in the platform based on the targeting parameters you’ve set. The platform offers you the ability to bid on a CPC basis or a CPM basis. 

The option you choose will influence how you’re charged and it will affect your costs. It is possible to run Nextdoor with relatively small budgets, but as with most platforms, it performs better given more budget to work with.

What Creative Placements Are Available on Nextdoor?

Nextdoor has 3 placements for you to use in their self serve ad platform: Newsfeed, Finds, and Right Rail. We have found that most advertisers opt to only use the Newsfeed placement since that is the most effective use of spend on Nextdoor. However, depending on your objective, the Finds placement and Right Rail placement could also be good for brand awareness initiatives. 

Should I Use Nextdoor Advertising? 

Nextdoor as an ad platform has a few limitations, and it’s not for everyone. It isn’t the next Facebook (Meta), TikTok or Snapchat. And it’s not trying to be. 

Nextdoor is incredibly effective for local businesses, local events, and getting the community involved. So if you have a business that has a strong localization component or wants to be seen in the community more, then absolutely give Nextdoor a try.

Want to take a new approach to paid social channel diversification, but are unsure of where to start? Let’s talk about how Tuff can help you make the most use of your paid social advertising spend with a multi-channel approach.