Episode 1 – Making a case for marketing on nextdoor for your small business

Hi, I’m Randy Cooper, your host for the MARKETING ON NEXTDOOR podcast. 

Welcome to this first episode of this podcast. I think Nextdoor is a great social media platform for small business. 

So first, let’s talk about small business.

The latest statistics from the Small Business Association show that there are 32.5 million small businesses in the US, which account for 99.9 percent of all US businesses (SBA, 2021).  

Since COVID, some small business owners have taken measures to adapt . Many of them have increased their online activities to try and reach out to their client base and keep their business alive by selling their products and services online. Or changing the way they deliver their products and services.

 (51 percent) say that they have increased the interactions they have with their clients over the internet. Additionally, 36 percent of personal businesses who use online tools are now also doing all their sales online.

Now let’s look at all the small businesses that rely specifically on sales within a close proximity to their business location.

Its staggering really, the number of businesses we’re talking about.

Medical. Legal. Retail. Dining. Trade services. Professional services. Places of worship. There are a ton of organizations that need local marketing.

Small businesses rely on digital as a medium of advertisement because they can target their customers in a more effective manner. Digital marketing helps small businesses reach people who are likely to be interested in their products, whereas traditional methods reach a broader audience.

Social media statistics show us that social media marketing can be an effective tool for businesses, as 73 percent of marketers believe that their efforts through social media marketing have been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business.

Social media is a preferred favorite for small business owners. In fact, 64 percent of surveyed small businesses use social media in their marketing strategy (The Manifest, 2019).

But here’s a ton of social platforms out there. If you’ve been following social media for anytime at all you’ve probably seen more than one that’s a rockstar one day and a loser the next.

Why Nextdoor? What makes Nextdoor unique among these social media platforms for small business marketing?

Nextdoor is unique in the users are segmented by location. When you join Nextdoor and enter your address, it knows which neighborhood you live in and assigns you to an area. There are ways to segment users on other platforms but this is an afterthought. With Nextdoor, you are engaging with your neighbors.

Nextdoor also presents itself with its own unique set of challenges. Unlike other social platforms, you don’t have the competition for  content creation. Other platforms are swamped with very talented content creators and this makes it difficult for your social posts to rise above the noise and get impressions and subsequent engagement.

Your content needs to be considered local-oriented by the moderators on Nextdoor. They don’t want the platform turning into another Facebook. For instance, a post focused on a presidential election might get flagged by Nextdoor’s moderators where a post about a congressional election would not.

The biggest mistake that small business owners make when marketing on Nextdoor is they only want to talk about their business.

In our next episode, we’ll talk about how to start marketing your business on nextdoor. 

You’ve been listening to MARKETING ON NEXTDOOR podcast with your host Randy Cooper.