Facebook Neighborhoods: What is it & How Does it Work For Businesses

One of the latest Facebook updates is the introduction of Facebook Neighborhoods. 

Facebook began testing it in Canada this past October and is now testing it out in at least 132 cities in the U.S.

So today, we’re going to cover what Facebook Neighborhoods are and how they work.

Additionally, we’re sharing how you can leverage Facebook Neighborhoods as a business owner to get more customers using one of its new features. 

What Are Facebook Neighborhoods?

Facebook says it’s:

“a dedicated space within the Facebook app designed to help you connect with your neighbors, participate in your local community, and discover new places nearby.”

So it’s a separate space from your profile.

And, you can opt-in to join your neighborhood to connect with your neighbors, share updates, or local events. 

You have to be 18 or older to join a neighborhood, and what is shared or posted within your neighborhood is not shared on your personal profile page. 

But wait a minute, does this all sound a little familiar to you guys? If so, it’s because it is. 

It’s Facebook’s version of the NextDoor app.

This is an app that allows you to find and join your neighborhood online to share all of the same information we just mentioned, amongst your neighbors.

But given Facebook’s copy and paste history- are we really surprised? No, no we’re not. 

But also to be fair, a lot of communities are already using Facebook for this same purpose, but to date, they’ve been doing it via private groups. 

A Neighborhood, for example, can utilize both the NextDoor app and a private Facebook group…

…where you can all share updates and need-to-know info with one another.

And so, Facebook is now just giving people a separate section on the app to be specifically dedicated to Neighborhoods. 

How Do Facebook Neighborhoods Work?

1. Ways to Join Facebook Neighborhoods

First of all, you can choose to solely join your own neighborhood.

Or, you can also join your “Nearby Neighborhoods” to see posts from your surrounding Neighborhoods. 

“When you create your Neighborhoods profile, you can choose to add interests, favorite places, and a bio…

…so people can get to know you within the Neighborhoods Directory. 

You can write a post to introduce yourself, participate in discussions on posts from fellow neighbors and answer Neighborhoods Questions in the dedicated feed. 

People can also take on roles within Neighborhoods, including socializers who spark friendly conversations.”

2. Moderators

In addition to the socializer role, another important role to note will be the Moderators. 

Facebook will have Neighborhood Guidelines that the moderators of your neighborhood group will help enforce.

“If a post or comment appears to go against the Neighborhoods Guidelines, moderators can take action by hiding the post…

…which will then be reviewed by Facebook Community Operations.

If the post violates Facebook Community Standards, the post will be removed from Neighborhoods. 

You can also report a post or comment to a Neighborhoods moderator or via Facebook’s reporting tool…

…if you believe it doesn’t follow the Guidelines or Facebook’s Community Standards.”

3. Blocking

You will also be able to block someone on Facebook or Neighborhoods without them being informed that you’ve done so.

And when you block someone, they won’t be able to find you in the Neighborhoods directory. 

4. Engaging Features

There are also going to be some engaging features to note. There will be a:

• Recommendations – this is for you to get suggestions from your local community,
• Neighborhoods Favorite Poll – this will let neighbors vote on their favorite places and businesses in the area including restaurants, parks, and more. 

Now there’s one more specific feature of Facebook Neighborhoods that we want to unpack…

…because we think it’ll be awesome for small business owners to utilize.

But first, here is a quick reminder to get our new social media ads training course.

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Connecting Facebook Neighborhoods With Local Groups

So one feature that’ll be available within Facebook Neighborhoods that we think is worth mentioning is the connection to local groups. 

“Admins of local Facebook Groups can add their Group into Neighborhoods to make it easy for people living nearby to find it…

…and people using Neighborhoods can create or join Neighborhoods-bounded groups that are accessible within the Neighborhoods experience.”

So if you own a local business, this could be an awesome, organic opportunity to get some brand awareness.

And also to build some authentic relationships with the people in your area. 

We know a lot of business owners leverage Facebook Groups for small business to further get people invested in their brand and pour into their warm leads…

…so the ability to plug your business group into local Neighborhoods can really amplify those efforts.

Now if you want to learn more tricks on how to grow your Facebook page likes, then check out this post next.

Final Takeaways

We know this feature is just starting to roll out, but while we’re on the topic of using Facebook Neighborhoods to grow your business…

…we have to say we will be curious to see if we start seeing Neighborhoods as a placement for our Facebook ad campaign one day in the future. 

Because that would be another great way to leverage this local community. Just something to think about.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, go ahead and let us know if you see Facebook Neighborhoods available in your city or not! 

We’d love to know how many are already getting to utilize this new feature. To check out more new social media updates, read this post next.

Otherwise, that about wraps up everything we had for you today guys!

Check out our Facebook advertising services here if you’re looking to work with an expert team of Facebook marketers.

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