7 Reasons Why You Need to Add Nextdoor to Your Dental Marketing Mix Today
Marketing your dental practice can seem overwhelming at times with all the different platforms available. If you haven’t heard of Nextdoor, learn more about this powerful local marketing tool for dentists below and how it can benefit your business.
What is Nextdoor?
Nextdoor is a social network that focuses on connecting neighbors to each other as well as to local businesses, services, events and to sell or repurpose goods.
Top Reasons to Use Nextdoor
The platform is hyperlocal — “Instantly connect with you neighbors” they claim. This is particularly useful for dentists, as people are looking for local recommendations. Your listing will get good visibility on this platform.
You’re accessing real humans not bots — every person on Nextdoor needs an address and to be verified. One in four households in the US is on Nextdoor.
Authentic marketing via “word of mouth” — blatant promotion isn’t allowed on Nextdoor so recommendations are genuine and helpful. People trust what their community says and who they recommend which is powerful for marketing.
Popular with new residents — people moving to your local area are likely to ask for recommendations for local services, including the best local dentist. This opens the door to a treasure trove of potential new patients.
Long-term gains — Nextdoor isn’t a quick win, but an exercise in long-term brand building. It’s important to set yourself up for success and set yourself apart from the competition. The sooner you start building your dental practice as a brand and a useful resource for the community, the more relied upon you will be in the community.
Targeted approach — people specifically use the platform for business recommendations. Nextdoor claims there are 52 million local business recommendations from neighbors on their platform and that 25% of all conversations are about sharing recommendations for local businesses.
Reputation monitoring — it’s important to see what your local community is saying about your business so you can manage your reputation accordingly.
How to Set Your Dental Practice Up with a Nextdoor Account
STEP 1: Set up an individual account — sign up here on desktop or download the app.
STEP 2: Claim your business listing for free here — if your business isn’t listed, select “Create a New Business Page” and follow the prompts and add the details of your business. The more information on your page, the better as it makes it more trustworthy.
STEP 3: Ask your patients to “recommend” you on Nextdoor — ask them in person and also share your Nextdoor page via your marketing communications to your patients (e.g. social media, patient communications, and email).
How to Promote Your Dental Practice on Nextdoor
Free ads — you can post twice a month for free on Nextdoor. It’s advised to keep these posts friendly and helpful rather than too promotional. You can provide advice or offer dental help to people in need in the community for example.
Paid ads — Nextdoor offers two types:
Local Deals — if you have a promotion for a dental service e.g. free check-up or 30% of teeth whitening, you can post and target your audience, however, there is a fee per ad depending on who you target.
Neighborhood Sponsorships — this requires a monthly fee but isn’t currently available for dental practices.
Add events — in a post-Covid-19 world, you can showcase patient events at your practice with this tool, but it must be from your individual account rather than business (and you must specify your relationship to the practice). If it’s from your business account, you have to pay for the ad.
Join relevant groups — search for relevant groups and participate in them. You don’t need to promote your business directly, your brand will build a good reputation and respect within the local community which will naturally sell your services.
Interact with people’s posts — if someone is asking for a recommendation for a dentist, you can respond or provide advice if they mention a dental problem. You must do this from your individual account and make sure to reveal your relationship to the dental practice to stay authentic.
It’s important to get to know the Nextdoor business guidelines.
Nextdoor is an important part of the marketing mix for dentists, however as it’s an authentic community, it requires genuine interactions. This means it’s important to add value to the platform instead of being overly promotional or pushy. If you have any questions about using Nextdoor for your dental practice or need assistance to set up your account or run your advertising, don’t hesitate to contact us!
