Do you use Pinterest group Boards in your marketing strategy? While they don’t work the same way they used to, there are still plenty of ways to use Group Boards for your business – AND there’s a new way to get many of the benefits you used to get from Group Boards.
Getting your creative work seen is vital if you want to grow and have people buy your work or hire you. Pinterest has become one of the most popular social media platforms for small businesses, and is one of the greatest sources for traffic and showcasing online content. The platform has since changed a lot since we have started using it, for a long time, back when you had to request an invite to join and there were no secret boards, and you could only sign in using your Facebook login. In recent years, Pinterest has become a valuable tool and is essential for helping businesses and online blogs to bring in traffic.
What is a Pinterest Group Board?
One of the things people teach is joining group boards. These are boards that are started and moderated by one account and then they can invite other Pinterest users to join the board and also pin to it. When so, done is invited to a board, it shows on their account and they can pin to the board. They can not, however, add members or remove pins, only the host of the board can do that. These boards then get more reach than your own boards, as they are seen by more audiences.
The host usually has terms for how to apply to join the board and rules to follow once you are invited.
Group boards can be very valuable to people fairly new to using Pinterest, as it boosts the reach of your pins.
Pinterest shows four main types of pins in anyone’s feed: pins from people they follow, popular pins, suggested pins, and promoted pins (paid ads).
Then there are three options of how to interact with any pin: click through the pin to its destination (a blog or shop), repin it to one of your boards, or share it with someone else.
Whenever someone opts to repin a pin to one of their boards, the repin count on that pin goes up by one. Pinterest has an algorithm that takes those repins and factors a repin rate for each pinner. The higher a pinner’s repin rate, the better Pinterest thinks of them, and the more likely their pins are to get shown to someone else.
So, in order to convince Pinterest to show your pins to more people, you want everything you pin to get repinned as frequently as possible.
And here’s the thing–it doesn’t even matter if it’s your own, original content, or someone else’s pin; when you pin (or repin) any pin, and it gets repinned, it counts towards your repin rate!
How to Apply to Join a Pinterest Group Board.
About a year or so ago I decided to start my own group boards. To get things started I invited a few people I know and asked in design communities if anyone wanted t join, and the boards slowly grew. They now attract invite request almost daily, sometimes 3-4 requests a day. So being on the side of a group board host who gets a lot of requests for invites, I thought I could share some valuable tips for how to go about requesting an invite. Some people make my job harder and some want to join boards that they just don’t seem a good fit for. So these tips willl help you more successfully get invited to group boards.
It is always at the discretion of the host to accept you or not, but if you set yourself up for success, the more boards you will be able to be accepted onto. Don’t take it personally if you don’t get a reply, some boards are just maxed out and some just get too many requests to keep on top of.
How to Find Pinterest Group Boards
- Check out a site like Pin Groupie. This site also allows you to rank groups by stats, to help you choose quality relevant boards.
- The way I like to find boards I would like to join is to check out accounts of people in my same niche or industry or have a similar audience. I then look at what groups boards they are on, and see if any appeal to me, and if they are decent boards with a good following, regular content being added and good quality content. Also if you can find a smallish board that a very popular pinner or someone big in your niche is on, these are perfect, as your content will go on a board that is listed on their account. If you only know a few Pinners, you can widen your board search by then checking out the other people that are on the group boards they are on.
Start creating a list of boards you think are ideal and you would love to be invited to.
3. Take advantage of Pinterest analytics: one of the benefits of a Pinterest business account is Pinterest Analytics, which you can use to find more group boards.
Read more: Pinterest Monthly Views: What Does it Mean?
Once you’re logged into Pinterest, click Analytics in the upper left, then People You Reach, then Interests. Toggle to Your Followers not All Audiences. Then scroll down to see Brands: Businesses Your Followers Engage. Some of your results may be big companies, but most should be other people in your corner of the market who pin the same types of content you do.
Don’t waste the free analytics Pinterest puts at your fingertips! Find out who your followers engage, then check out the group boards they are part of!
Other things to consider:
- Apply to boards that have a similar style to your own pins. When I got to review an account, one of the main things I am looking for is that their style is similar to mine and that their pins will suit the board. I am big on curating and creating a cohesive look. It doesn’t have to be the identical style, but needs to have a similar feel, and be able to compliment the other content on the board.
- Make sure you are willing to abide by rules, including the method for applying. Sometimes the owner will want you to join a Facebook group or email list or follow their account, before considering adding you. If the rules are too complex for you to keep up with following, or you don’t want to be part of what they want you to join, then it might not be the right board for you.
- If you want to also invite them to one of your own group boards, don’t send an invite without first asking if they would be interested. And don’t make them feel obliged to join your board. It can be as simple as saying ‘I have ‘this group board’, I’d be happy to invite you to if you are interested’.
How to Contact the Board Owner
First of all check what the host of the board has requested. Usually in the board description, they will have mentioned how you can apply and how best to contact them and any other requirements they have. So first, be sure to follow any instructions, and request an invite using the method they suggest. If they want an email or for you to fill in a form, then don’t go and send them a Pinterest message. Or if they ask for a Pinterest message, don’t go to their site and contact them direct. They likely have a system in place for adding people to their boards, so respect that, and follow the instructions.
Now some guidelines for the message you send them:
- If they have their first name on their account, or it is easy to find on their website, USE IT. Just writing ‘Hi’ makes it look like you either didn’t do much research or that you sent bulk emails. If you can make it personal, it makes a big impact, because it shows you are genuinely interested in contributing to this person’s board. If you want to say something nice about their board, account, blog or business, do so, but keep it short and simple. It can be as simple as ‘Love your style’ or ‘ I really enjoy your blog’.
- Provide the email you use for Pinterest. Occasionally a username isn’t sufficient to add someone to a board. I often find with smaller accounts, Pinterest can’t find them based on name and the easiest way to add the person is with an email address. It is particularly importamt to provide this if it is different to the email you used to send the request. However, dont only send an email address and not an account link. I have had people only provide their email, and I almost instantly dismiss them because that doesn’t allow me to review their account and is very presumptive that I’ll just add them without first looking at their account.
- Keep the message short and to the point. Make it easy for them to find your details and make a quick decision.
- Provide your Pinterest link ( a clickable link not just handle). When I get an email from someone requesting to join my group board, I want to make the decision quickly. This isn’t a high priority task, so it needs to be as quick and simple as possible to do. When someone leaves the name of their Pinterest handle but doesn’t leave a clickable link, that just makes my job harder, I then have to manually copy, open up and paste it. I want one click to check out your account. Please make it easy for the host, don’t make more steps than necessary.
- Name the board you want to join. Sometimes the owner of the board has more than one group board, so if you are not clear on the board you want to join, they won’t know. Simply writing ‘I would like to join your group board’ is too vague. Be specific and show you have actually look at the board.
- If emailing consider your email subject line. Make it clear in the subject line that this is a Pinterest Group Board request, so they can easily spot it in their emails, and it won’t be dismissed as junk.
- Don’t send follow-ups, unless you can make it personal and you are very keen to get on that board and believe you have content that compliments the board. Often people don’t reply because they either are not accepting new contributors on the board or have decided you are not the right fit. So don’t harass them. I’d only follow up, if you really think it is the right fit, you are interested in the person and you are not pushy about it. e.g ‘Just wanted to be sure you got my message…[something brief about the board and why you want to join it, and your details]… if you are not accepting new contributors or don’t feel I am the best fit for the board, no worries.’
How To Create A Group Board On Pinterest
If you want to create your own group board. Then create a new board like you would any regular Pinterest board.
Once you have a Pinterest board you want to make into a group board. Click on the pen icon for that board.
This board can then be turned into a group board. Simply by adding other usernames or email addresses to the Contributor box and clicking Invite. These collaborators can then add their pins to the board, after accepting your invite.
How to add a “Request to Join” Button on Your Group Boards
Did you know, you can also add a Request to join button to your Pinterest group boards? This button will let other Pinterest users request an invite to your board. Without the need to setup fancy forms or fill up your email’s inbox with requests.
It’s surprising how hidden this feature actually is! But it will work on both your normal Pinterest boards and group boards. Any board with this button is automatically converted to a group board. Without the need to do the steps I mentioned above.
- Go to a Group Board that you own. Next, find and click into the Pinterest board you want to add a Request to join button. (Do not click the pencil icon, just open the board like a normal Pinterest user would instead.)
- Click Invite next to your profile picture
- Click the hexagonal symbol next to “Invite group members”
- Turn on Group requests
- Click Done.
When someone wants to join you’ll get an email and push notification. You can accept or decline each request – do not forget to check your inbox because there can also be join requests in your inbox for Pinterest Groups.
Towards the center is a Collaboration setting. To enable the Request to join button on your Pinterest group boards this needs to be toggled on. Once this is toggled on and you click on Done to save your changes. The Request to join button will appear like this to other Pinterest users.
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