As public agencies seek more effective ways to connect with nearby residents, the Nextdoor Ads Manager offers a uniquely local solution. While similar to Meta or LinkedIn’s ad management platforms, Nextdoor’s portal is designed for hyper-targeted engagement, putting messages directly in front of users based on their neighborhood.
Key Features of Nextdoor Ads Manager Include:
- Geographic targeting by location, demographics or interest: Advertisers can narrow targeting to users’ home location (the location listed on their profile) or their current location. Ads can also be adjusted to target homeownership and other demographic information.
- Custom audiences: Advertisers can specify their audience by uploading a list, targeting engagement actions, website events or creating lookalike audiences.
- Ad format flexibility: Advertisers can create multiple ads or ad sets in one campaign and customize text, images, website, calls-to-action and more. The platform supports image, video and carousel ads. Ads can be saved as drafts prior to publishing them, so you can adapt and reset as needed.
- Ad placement: Nextdoor ads can be shown in three locations on the platform: 1) For Sale & Free, the dedicated tab where neighbors go to sell or buy items locally, 2) Newsfeed, within the scrolling feed of posts, and 3) Right-hand rail, a desktop-only feature on the static right-hand side of the newsfeed. Video and carousel ads can only appear on the Newsfeed placement.
- Ad creative: Ads can be displayed in three ways on the platform, so it is best to have multiple sizes of your ad ready. Video ads must be sized to a 16:9 aspect ratio. Images can be sized to a square 1:1 aspect ratio or a rectangular 1.91:1 aspect ratio.
- Flexible budget: Budgets can be set as daily or lifetime limits — either capping spending per day or allocating the total amount to be used at any point during the ad’s run. Your budget can be adjusted as you go throughout the campaign, and you only pay for the clicks/impressions you actually get.
- Real-time performance tracking: Nextdoor Ads creates reports to track metrics for an ad campaign, ad set or ad itself. These reports can be customized to show a variety of insights that can be scheduled to deliver to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly with customization on the look-back range or reporting period:
- The dimensions (delivery, demographics, interests, household locations, user location, time)
- Metrics (basic – clicks, impressions, reach, click through rate, etc.,
- Event names – purchase, lead, sign up, add to cart, etc.,
- Conversion–total conversions, view through conversions, click-through conversions,
- Lead generation–submissions, completion rate, CTA clicks, video – at different view lengths) you’d like to see.
- Add users to an ad account: You can add additional users to your ad portal as needed. Users can be given specific levels of permissions, so you can elevate or restrict access as appropriate.
What to Consider:
Nextdoor’s ad policy and review process is more rigorous. Ads about political or social issues can only be run using Nextdoor’s manager services, not the self-serve portal.
In an era where digital ads can feel impersonal and oversaturated, Nextdoor Ads Manager offers a rare opportunity to meet people where they live. The platform makes local outreach more efficient, measurable and meaningful.
