In an era of social distancing Nextdoor reveal their latest insights into the importance of why you should stayed connected with your neighbours now more than ever.
Nextdoor specialise in helping neighbours connect to each other and to everything nearby from Local businesses, services, news updates and recommendations. Building connections in the real world is a universal human need. That truth, and the reality that neighbourhoods are among the most important communities in our lives, have been guiding principles for Nextdoor since the beginning.
During the past few months of the ongoing pandemic and ever changing rules, one thing has remained constant: the importance of neighbours and community.
In early April Nextdoor shared their first Insights report that shared neighborhood trends and noted “In an era of social distancing, neighbourliness is on the rise.” Since then, they have spent time understanding how neighbours see the world today. As the world looks ahead they have seen The Rise of Local continue to emerge through 5 phases:
Kindness has become essential during Shelter in Place. Since February, there has been a 140% increase of meaningful connections among neighbors, from sending private messages to engaging in group conversations. Neighbours are an important source of information, they turn to each other to get updates on supplies, local business and public services. 46% of members believe their neighbors have had a positive impact on their community during this time.
With many out of work, neighbours are increasingly hiring neighbours for jobs around the home. 34% of neighbours are more likely to hire their neighbours for jobs around the home and conversations of jobs have increased significantly.
After months of sheltering in place and self-isolation, the need for connection is strong. 83% of members are feeling overwhelmingly isolated from friends and family. 72% of members say they plan to frequent local businesses more often as we come out on the other side. But of crowd-based activities, neighbors will return to airline travel and live shows last.
As neighbors have new needs, local businesses are pivoting to stay afloat. On average, respondents said their business lost about 25% of revenue as a result of COVID-19. 30% of local businesses have pivoted and changed the original products and services they offer.
More than 1 in 3 consumers have started using a new brand as a result of the innovative or compassionate way that brands responded to the pandemic. We’ve seen success for campaigns running on Nextdoor offering help.
Supporting local Businesses
During the summer Nextdoor also launched their ‘Get Local’ in partnership with Barclays to help UK local businesses and communities impacted by COVID-19. “We believe when local businesses thrive, communities thrive.” Supporting local has always been important to our neighbours, but now more than ever, we are hearing how much people want to help local businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with Barclays, who share our passion to help businesses during this challenging time, to launch ‘Get Local’: a range of new tools to help connect neighbours and local businesses which is even more vital at this moment in time.
Over the last few weeks, there’s been an outpouring of support for local businesses among neighbours on Nextdoor. From neighbours posting which of their favourite restaurants are still open for business by offering delivery to sharing local businesses running special offers and deals in this challenging time.
For many local businesses, getting customers through the door is difficult, or even impossible, due to social distancing measures. ‘Get Local’ helps businesses instantly connect and directly communicate with new customers, as well as existing local customers.
Many local businesses have changed the way they operate so they can continue to provide services to your local community and need a way to share they are still continuing to trade through lockdown. With Nextdoor’s new directory, you’ll be able to see which businesses have marked themselves as open for business or delivery and support them during this time. Click here to see which local businesses are open in your neighbourhood.
Spread the Word
If your favourite local business isn’t on Nextdoor, why not share this blog with them so they know all about these new features to connect them with their local community. Or if you own a business and haven’t set-up your Local Business page yet, get started today.
Nextdoor and Barclays are there to support neighbours and local businesses facing challenges during this time. “With neighbours helping neighbours, we know we can make it through and make our communities stronger than ever.”
Source: Nextdoor
