by Evan Franklin

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How dentists can leverage Nextdoor

Meet Christina.

Christina is a 41-year-old executive sales manager living in a suburb outside of Houston, TX with her husband and two adolescent sons. She works long hours to ensure that her family lives comfortably and likes to stay involved with her local community.

To distract herself from the stressors of work, Christina loves connecting with people online as her in-person social circle began to shrink given the events of 2020. However, she never really “got” Twitter, and grew exhausted with the political animosity on Facebook. Thankfully, she was able to find a new comfort zone on Nextdoor, the highly localized social media platform that makes users confirm their name and address (she finds that people are less likely to be toxic if they have to use real names).

She loves Nextdoor’s communal feel and has come to use it as her primary source for local recommendations, trusting the insights and opinions of her neighbors even above the reviews on Google and Yelp. She has begun using the platform to find her family a new dentist as the owner of her previous family practice just retired.

There are countless Christinas all over the country using Nextdoor to help inform important healthcare decisions like these, and dental practice owners would benefit from meeting potential patients where they spend time online. After claiming your business page on Nextdoor, here are three ways to connect with potential new patients using the app.

Free Business Posts

These posts allow your practice to connect and engage with potential local new patients with the caveat that they cannot be particularly promotional (shy away from “Book an appointment now!”). They are still incredibly valuable, however, as they create a touchpoint with people who will be more likely to remember your name in the future. A few ideas for these posts include:

  • A general greeting: Introduce your practice to the community with a thoughtful greeting and a little information about you and your team
  • An employee spotlight: Introduce a team member and congratulate them on a recent accomplishment
  • A mention of how you’re giving back: Free business posts are a great way to let people know of ways you are giving back to your local community, whether it be through employee volunteering or pro bono dental work

Local Deals

Local Deals are paid ads that allow you to target multiple neighborhoods in your area with a deal or promotion. You can use these ads with calls to action for new patient promotions like free whitening kits. Just be sure to weigh the cost of the ad against the value of a new prospect. Keep a watchful eye on the ad’s metrics and performance so you can tweak or adjust the language of the offer as you go.

Nextdoor allows you to purchase a monthly subscription where your ad will renew automatically each month or you can make a single purchase for a one-time ad to run between seven and 30 days (this option is recommended for first-time users).

Neighborhood Sponsorships

This paid option gives your practice more communication options within the zip codes that you sponsor, as well as higher visibility for any Local Deals you run in those zip codes. Sponsorships give you higher visibility on users’ timelines, including with posts like messages, polls and events. They also let you connect with people individually, allowing them to ask questions that you can answer directly – a great way to promote your business and establish yourself as a dental thought leader in your area.

Nextdoor continues to rise in popularity, especially now in an era where digital connections are replacing many of the face-to-face interactions that the Christinas of the world experience in daily life. It’s also becoming a trustworthy resource for business recommendations including dentistry. As a dental practice owner, you can help make this decision easier by meeting Christina where she is (on Nextdoor) with the added bonus of becoming more active in your community.

If you have questions about using Nextdoor or where it could fit into your marketing strategy, contact Big Buzz today.

 

Big Buzz is a marketing agency delivering a steady stream of move-in-ready leads to teams serving the senior living industry. For more than 15 years, Big Buzz has helped senior living marketing and sales teams nurture leads to increase occupancy, grow and scale. CEO Wendy O’Donovan Phillips is the author of the book Flourish!: The Method Used by Aging Services Organizations for the Ultimate Marketing Results, has been published in McKnight’s, has been a regular contributor to Forbes, and has been quoted in The Washington Post, ABC News and Chicago Tribune. The Big Buzz leadership team regularly lectures in front of audiences ranging from 25 to 3,000 attendees, including at Argentum and various LeadingAge chapters. Agency awards and accolades include recognition for excellence by the American Marketing Association, Gold Key Award Winner by the Business Marketing Association, HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Certification, and Top Advertising and Marketing Agency by Clutch.

by Evan Franklin

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