As a small business, you are an essential part of your neighborhood’s vibrant fabric. Nextdoor helps you connect with the neighbors around you with a network of over 90 million verified, high-intent users. And it just got even easier.
Along with the other easy-to-use advertising options available in Nextdoor Ads Manager (NAM), you can now take advantage of two powerful new formats: native video ads and lead generation (lead gen) ads.
With these additional ways to reach your target audience, you’ll be able to capture their attention in fresh, engaging ways while boosting your return on investment (ROI). Learn more about how video and lead gen will take your ads to the next level.
Video is a dynamic way to draw interest to your ad and bring your business’ story to life. In fact, for many, it’s preferred — 89% of people say they want to see more videos from brands, and 82% have been convinced by a video to buy a product or service.
On Nextdoor alone, the number of video posts has more than doubled, drawing more than 6 million unique views per day across the platform.1 The popularity of video is palpable on the platform, with an average 3-second video view rate 13% higher than on the largest social networking site.2 That means when you post a video ad, you're delivering it to an audience primed to watch it.
One of the most exciting benefits of video is the ability to cut through the static with an ad that showcases your business’s personality and values. Think about how much more you can communicate in a video than in a single image. That’s why video works so well to engage high-intent neighbors on Nextdoor.
There are many different kinds of stories you can tell in your video ads. Maybe you want to humanize your business and let people get to know your team. Share a video ad that helps potential customers get to know the real people helping your business run — people who neighbors might see if they come to your store or buy your services. Or share a customer story with a short testimonial or show off a product in use. This can help your target audience see the value you can provide them. Whatever you decide to highlight, video ads give you the opportunity to connect more deeply with your neighbors.
Currently, video ads are available on the Newsfeed, and support ad copy with up to 800 characters, including dynamic local substitution. Ads will auto-play, giving you the chance to pique the interest of scrollers and stop them in their tracks, so make sure your video is visually interesting! Check out the full creative specifications before you begin.
You don’t run ads just to get your name out there, you do it to grow your business. But gathering leads is one of the most difficult challenges that marketers and advertisers face. In fact, over half of marketers say it’s the biggest challenge.
When you’re new to advertising, that challenge can feel overwhelming, especially when you need to make the most of a limited budget. Some digital campaigns are more long-term, like driving more traffic to your website’s product page, for instance. But you often also need short-term wins to keep your business thriving. You need to actively grow your list of warm leads — that is, people who are likely to convert into customers. You do that through lead gen.
Nextdoor’s new lead gen ad format makes it simple to capture leads with a form built natively into the platform. This ad type is an impactful way to reach the 90+% of neighbors who are the joint or sole household purchase decision makers. Instead of a CTA that leads them to another website, they’ll be prompted to fill out a short form with their personal information so you can get in touch with them directly.
How detailed you make the form is up to you. Nextdoor allows you to add up to eight questions, five of which are pre-filled with neighbors’ verified data: name, email, phone, address, and zip code. You can also add up to three custom write-in questions if you’re looking for more specific information. Maybe you sell different types of products and want to know which one a lead is most interested in. You might want to know about past purchases to better inform future communications with a lead. This is your chance to ask questions that will help you determine if a lead is a good fit for your business.
And you can do it all on Nextdoor. Lead gen ads remove the need for a website or any other marketing tool, streamlining your process and maximizing efficiency for you and user experience for your leads. This gives you more time to actually run your business, while you gain those warm leads that are crucial to accelerating growth.
When creating this type of ad, it’s important to provide your target audience with value, especially if you’re asking them to share their contact information. One compelling way to create value, no matter your business type, is to offer a free consultation, session or class, or demo. Maybe you’re a plant nursery that can offer a plant care class for new plant owners, or you could be a real estate agent that shares tips for new homeowners.
Another productive way to generate value that will prompt form fills is by offering exclusive discounts that are shared after the form is completed. That could be a discount on car servicing if you’re an auto repair shop, or a buy-one-get-one deal for a fitness studio looking to boost class attendance.
You can measure your ROI right on Nextdoor’s platform. If you do have another customer relationship management platform that helps you organize your leads, you can also leverage the CRM integration with Zapier. This powerful integration enables you to automatically sync customer information you capture on Nextdoor with your existing CRM. You can even connect Nextdoor to existing workflows or set up new automations, so you don’t have to manually download and aggregate lead data from multiple places. You can also set up instant email reporting, so you can get real-time notifications any time a lead comes in.
Similarly to the video ads, lead gen ads are available on the Newsfeed. They also support ad copy up to 800 characters and local substitution for extra personalization. For the full specs and best practices, explore the creative guidelines.
Start connecting with neighbors in Nextdoor Ads Manager today. Create your business profile for free!
Sources:
1. Internal Nextdoor data, 2022-2023
2. Facebook VVR benchmarks & Internal Nextdoor data, Sept 2022 - Aug 2023