Nextdoor: A Hidden Gem
Is your business on Nextdoor? Because it should be.
When I talk to people about Nextdoor, I hear a lot of grumbling because it tends to be a place of drama among neighbors. I can't help but agree with this summation because the times that I've scrolled through my neighborhood feed, I've noticed a lot of squabbling and name calling- even about mundanities such as water bill prices, prairie dog management, and the volume of music being played before the 9:00pm hour. Because of this, I tend to not check my Nextdoor account very often...but I have been utilizing it for business purposes, and feel that you too could benefit from the exposure it gives. So let's get into the nitty-gritty.
Here are some Fast Facts about Nextdoor for Businesses, and some Tips and Tricks so you won't (hopefully) have as hard of a time setting yours up as I did mine...
You can sign up for a Nextdoor Business account in two ways. One way is just under your personal profile- as a "Neighbor for Hire". This is more for people who do random odd jobs like babysitting, dog walking, selling pies, etc. And the other way, is as a Professional Business, with your own business profile.
If you choose to be a Professional Business, its going to have you first "claim" your existing business page. What that means, is that someone created your business for you when writing a recommendation or review. They've even put the address in for you. Sometimes multiple people have reviewed a business that doesn't have a Business Page set up on Nextdoor. So if this is you, its an excellent idea to get on there and claim your business!
If you are like me, and didn't have a business to claim, you have to prove that your business is real. In order to do this you have to have one of the following documents to verify your business.
Acceptable Documentation:
Government-Issued business license and permits from local, state or federal government
Business Tax or VAT registration certificate
EIN confirmation letter from the IRS (U.S. only)
Official tax notices from the IRS (U.S. only)
Business bank account statements, with account number redacted
Business credit report from one of the reporting agencies
Fictitious Business Name Statement (U.S. only). Please provide this in addition to one of the above documents, if you do business under a different name.
Again, if you are a brand-spanking new business, like mine, you don't have any of these documents. So let me help you get the easiest and cheapest document. Go for "EIN confirmation letter from the IRS" document. It takes 5 minutes to get from the IRS
website and its free. (That's my favorite price!) Go to this IRS Website, Monday to Friday, between the hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. (I'm not kidding. the IRS has HOURS of operation on an automated website.) You'll have your "EIN Confirmation Letter from the IRS" within 5 minutes to message the people of Nextdoor.
4. What happens if you don't verify your business on Nextdoor? Good question. If
your business is un-verified, you will not be able to have access to the free parts of Nextdoor's Business Page...which leads me to #5...
5. Nextdoor allows you two free posts a month. Only two. If you want more, you have to pay for them. And the price get's extremely high, the further distance from your
neighborhood that you want exposed to your post. (If you don't have your business verified, you don't get these two posts. You only can use the type of promotion that you have to pay for.)
So why do I feel that Nextdoor is a great place to promote your business? Two main reasons.
People love to shop local. And, in this case, super local. (Neighborhood local.) Whether it be that more money is kept in their community, (or any of these other reasons) people love to support businesses that are nearby to their homes.
Posts on Nextdoor have the absolute highest amount of "Views" and "Actions" that I've ever seen for a small business on a Social Media Platform's analytics. Here is an example of a client of mine. She posted one post on Nextdoor- her first post ever- and check out how many people saw her post and clicked on her website link! On Facebook and Instagram, its so often the case that only a handful of people- including those who are your followers- even see the post, let alone click on a link!
2,300+ VIEWS?!!? 52 PEOPLE CLICKING HER WEBSITE?!?! Amazing!
There is one caveat. This amazing analytics summary is still in its testing-stage and is only available for some people with business accounts. (Mine, sadly, won't supply this information yet. I cannot WAIT for this feature to be available to everyone.)
So, there's my endorsement of Nextdoor for giving your business more exposure. I am not, in any way, connected to or paid for by Nextdoor. (I wouldn't mind if they would...) I just have witnessed some amazing results in new leads, contacts, and clients for some of the accounts I manage, and wanted to pass on the potential for success to you!
Feel free to message me for any advice on getting your business verified on Nextdoor. It was an absolute pain for me until I figured out how easy it was to get an EIN from the IRS.
