A Chat with Paps Shaikh, EMEA Commercial Director at Online Neighbourhood Network: Nextdoor

Nextdoor is an online neighbourhood network. Neighbours around the world turn to Nextdoor daily to receive trusted information, give and get help, get things done, and build real-world connections with those nearby. Today, neighbours rely on Nextdoor in more than 295,000 neighbourhoods across 11 countries.

In addition to building a sense of belonging in neighbourhoods, Nextdoor helps businesses and public agencies drive measurable outcomes by creating meaningful connections with a uniquely engaged local audience.
 
 

 

What do you think makes Nextdoor unique?

 
Our core purpose is to cultivate a kinder community, and that’s what makes us stand out from the crowd. A little kindness goes a long way to building a sense of belonging, so we will continue to find new ways to help communities to be as supportive as possible. One example of how we are doing this is with our ‘Kindness Reminders’ which ask people to reconsider posting potentially harmful content.

For businesses, we offer access to hard-to-reach audiences, with many of our ‘neighbours’ not present on other social media platforms. Our community is also made up of household decision-makers with a ‘high-intention mindset’, who come to the app to get things done. This creates a highly performant environment for advertisers.
 

 

How has Nextdoor evolved over the last couple of years?

 
At Nextdoor, we have always believed that everyone should have a neighbourhood they can rely on. But when life as we knew it got taken away from us during the pandemic, the communities around us became critical.

Now, more than ever before, we believe we can play an important role in connecting people with others, particularly when they are feeling lonely, fearful, or bored. Post-pandemic, we are even more focused on creating real-world connections, and this is a fundamental human need.
 

What can we hope to see from Nextdoor in the future?

 
A big focus for us in 2023 is to connect more businesses with local customers. We want more companies to be aware that they can set up a free business page, which means neighbours can easily find them when searching for recommendations. There are also options to advertise to specific local neighbourhoods – helping to reach more customers and grow. We see this as a win-win. Businesses can reach a hyper-targeted audience and engage on a more personal level, while members get to enjoy more relevant marketing messages.

There are many different reasons an individual or a business may join Nextdoor – but they stay for one thing and that’s the community. They will be the ones to shape the future of Nextdoor.