How do you get news from your local neighborhood? In the digital age, you're probably connected to your community through social media. Enter Nextdoor (nextdoor.com), a social platform that has exploded in popularity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic as people began to rely on their geographic neighbors more than ever for relevant information about local regulations and even which stores had paper towels or hand sanitizer in stock.

Nextdoor has increased its daily active members by more than 80% since the pandemic, according to a PRNEWS article, and in July 2021 announced plans to go public as part of a $4.3 billion deal, according to CNBC. 

Nextdoor is a great fit for independent agencies and is fundamentally different from other social platforms like Facebook or Twitter. The user feed is based on your home address, so you only see posts from people who live within a certain radius. Importantly, users often share recommendations on local services, making it the perfect place for businesses to get referrals. 

Reviews are vital in today's digital economy, and people give far more weight to reviews or recommendations from people in their local area, who they are more likely to trust. When your business page on Nextdoor gets a heart or review, users know you're recommended by real people in their community.

Nextdoor is also high intent, meaning that users are far more likely to be ready to purchase your service than audiences on other social media platforms. People go to Nextdoor for the express purpose of finding local services that their neighbors recommend.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Here are three ways your agency can get the most out of Nextdoor:

1) Get hearts and reviews. Create a business page for your agency and get hearts and reviews to show that people in your area know, trust and enjoy doing business with you. Reach out to your satisfied clients, employees, friends and family in the area to ask them to give your page a heart and leave a review. 

2) Publish engaging posts. Nextdoor only allows you to post from a business page twice a month (aside from paid business posts), so make them count. Because the audience is local, posting about your events and charity efforts in the community will likely garner the most engagement. You can also share educational posts or ones that help people get to know your team. 

3) Answer relevant questions. Rather than pushing sales, start by building trust in the community by offering answers, advice or suggestions when people ask questions about insurance. Search keywords like “insurance" or related topics on Nextdoor to find relevant conversations, or use the daily digest email newsletter to keep an eye on the conversations in your neighborhood. 

Nextdoor will only continue to grow in popularity. If your agency isn't making use of it, you could be missing out on valuable leads and referrals. As a platform based on trust, intent and geographical location, Nextdoor is poised to become your agency's social media MVP. 

Rachel Stauffer is content manager at HawkSoft, a leader in management systems for independent insurance agencies that want effective workflows and a delightful experience for staff and policyholders.