Earlier this month Nextdoor Ads Manager (NAM) launched: a new self-serve advertising platform that allows local businesses to advertise their products and services across the Nextdoor platform with no minimum spend requirement.
What is Nextdoor?
“Nextdoor is the private social network for you, your neighbours and your community. It’s the easiest way for you and your neighbours to talk online and make all of your lives better in the real world.”
The neighbourhood network
The Nextdoor platform is a highly localised social network that users join based on their location. It is a place where users can connect with neighbours to share local “information, give and get help, get things done, and build real-world connections with those nearby”.
These are the Nextdoor stats:
- It is used in 11 countries
- It is used across 305,000 neighbourhoods globally
- 1 in 4 UK households use Nextdoor
- 10M+ verified members
- 1 in 3 London households use Nextdoor
- 55 million business recommendations from neighbours
Nextdoor Ads Manager (NAM)
Nextdoor’s self-serve advertising platform (known as Nextdoor Ads Manager (NAM)) allows businesses to create and manage local digital ad campaigns directly on the Nextdoor app and website at no minimum cost. The platform is designed for ease of use and is aimed at helping businesses connect with people in their local neighbourhoods.
Key Features
- Hyperlocal Targeting
- Ads are shown to users based on their neighbourhood/postcode
- Businesses can target by geography (postcode, city etc.), interests, or business category
- Ad Formats
- Sponsored Posts: Appear directly in the neighbourhood news feed like regular user posts
- Local Deals: Promote special offers or discounts to nearby neighbours
- Display Ads: Image-based ads on the platform
- Simple Campaign Builder
- Set an objective (awareness, consideration, conversion)
- Choose your audience
- Upload creative assets (images, logos, text)
- Set a daily or lifetime budget
- Choose bidding option: auto bid/max bid
- Add a frequency cap (if required)
- Opt for placements: News feed, for sale and free, and/or right-hand rail
- Budget and Pricing
- Typically CPC (cost-per-click) or CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions) based
- There is now no minimum daily spend requirement, making it accessible for small businesses
- Analytics Dashboard/Reporting
- View performance metrics such as impressions, clicks, engagement rate, and conversions
- Easily adjust or pause campaigns based on performance
What businesses is Nextdoor best for?
Nextdoor is a niche platform, and success depends heavily on your goals, location, and the type of service or product you wish to promote.
Here are a few of the types of businesses that it could work well for:
- Local Businesses
- Examples: landscapers, dog walkers, restaurants, local retailers.
- Nextdoor users are hyper-focused on their neighbourhoods/postal area. If you operate in a defined geographic area, this could be the platform for your business.
- Community-Oriented Services
- Think: personal trainers, tutors, home improvement, event spaces, or anything that can build trust via word of mouth
- Businesses that want Local Engagement, Not Just Clicks
- Nextdoor users are more likely to comment, recommend, and share local services with neighbours
- Ideal Demographics
- Nextdoor skews toward homeowners, parents, and older adults – businesses with this type of target audience could thrive on Nextdoor
- Small businesses
- You don’t need big creative budgets – a clean image, your logo, and a compelling local message go a long way
Things to consider
- Best suited for businesses with a local footprint, so it can be less effective for national or purely online businesses
- The platform could work well for services/products aimed at homeowners, parents, and household decision makers
- CTR (click-through rate): Higher than Facebook in some cases due to trust-based feed
- Cost: CPCs can be lower than Meta or Google for local targeting
- Engagement: Strong if you run helpful, community-focused ads (e.g., offering tips, deals, or involvement in local causes)
- Reach: the possible reach of Nextdoor is going to be significantly smaller than the big networks (Google and Meta, etc)
- Try to emphasise local connection for best results – Avoid generic messaging like “Sign up for an account today.” Instead, try: “We’re proud to help [Neighbourhood Name] grow. Join over 500 neighbours who…”
- Landing page experience matters. If you drive clicks to a page, it should be fast, mobile-friendly, and continue that local, trustworthy tone
- Don’t over-sell. Inform and invite, rather than push. Neighbours are sceptical of overly corporate messages
