Nextdoor: The Next Step in Dental Marketing

Nextdoor logo

How are you putting your practice out into the world – or better yet, your surrounding neighborhoods? Meet Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social network and app for communities to build trusted connections, share recommendations and reviews, and exchange helpful information, goods, and services[i]. Think of it as a neighborhood forum, sounding board, business discovery source, social network, and search platform all-in-one. [ii]

It’s another way to invest in your dental marketing—expand your network and forge deeper community relationships with Nextdoor. Read on to learn how to take advantage of this app and all the benefits it provides, to optimize your larger dental marketing strategy.

Establish local connections.

Nextdoor stays true to what ‘neighborhood’ really means. First, claim and create your free business page [iii] to show that your practice is verified and active in the community. That alone provides an opportunity to be noticed by potential patients or targeted demographics. Engaging with your local community and patients is essential to the success of your Nextdoor page—respond to patients/users via tags, mentions, comments, or private messages to optimize your page, maintain activity, and foster trust.

Personalize your practice.

Fill out your business page thoroughly. Share your practice’s story (e.g., how and why you got started), showcase branding (your practice’s logo and color palette), and provide potential patients with contact information, office and staff photos, and clear descriptions of your featured services. All of this will help your neighbors get to know you and the depth of services your practice offers.

Promote your practice.

Start by obtaining recommendations from local patients/users first and engage with them via the app. Think of Nextdoor as digital word-of-mouth-marketing. Post content via Nextdoor from your practice and let audiences across your other social platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) know about your Nextdoor business page to help garner social proof. Weave this content into your larger social media strategy and consider creating a Local Deal ad – Nextdoor’s form of paid advertising – to highlight featured service promotions or new staff hires and bring patients to your practice’s website.

Gain authentic recommendations.

Ask patients for recommendations post-treatment via QR code in your office or send an email out to your existing client base. The number of quality recommendations your practice receives is key in driving organic growth online. It’s important to note that your practice won’t show up in Nextdoor searches until you have three recommendations from neighbors.[iv] To ensure validity, the app runs a series of identity-check questions, and all users must verify their address in order to view and post recommendations.

Gauge your reputation.

Track important metrics to gauge your practice’s reputation and gain insights on where there’s room to improve your practice’s visibility online. Check out how many neighbors and neighborhoods can see your practice’s profile, assess neighborhood reach, and see how many times a Local Deal ad was viewed, clicked, or saved.

Be the practice that locals recommend to their neighbors! Connect with your community and engage with those who need you most. Partner with the PBHS Launch Social Team to learn how to incorporate Nextdoor as a part of your larger dental marketing strategy and create your business page today—we’re here to help!