What are group boards?

Group boards are community boards where there are multiple contributors to one board. There are a lot of group boards within Pinterest, with a wide range of topics.

How can they help your business?

By pinning your content to group boards, they get seen by a wider audience. If they are then re-pinned, they are seen by an even wider audience! If pinners like what they see, they will also start following you.

The board owner has to follow one of your boards to be able to invite you. Often the group board owner will re-pin your content onto their boards, which, if they have a large following, further increases your reach.

What do Group Boards look like?

In the top right corner of the board cover, there is a symbol with three heads, this indicates that it is a group board.

How do you find group boards?

There is now a great little tool out there, called PinGroupie, which allows you to search for group boards in different categories. You can now find group boards for your niche within minutes!

How do you know which boards are the best?

Once you have found those group boards, you then need to see if they are worth joining! But how do you know? There are a few things that you need to look out for:

• Make sure they are not full of spam!• If you click on the image, you want it to take you to the content stated on the

image.• You don’t want to see any off topic content, or people selling lots of items.• There needs to be a high number of followers.• High numbers of followers to pins.• Lots of engagement on the pins, likes, re-pins. You want to see that people are

engaging with the board!

There is a lot of engagement on these pins, with re-pins and likes.

How do you get an invite?

There are a couple of different ways the board owners will want you to contact them.

• By leaving a message on a recent pin on the group board. Make sure you are following at least one of their boards. Go into one of the pins by clicking on the image. To leave a comment, type @ followed by their name, which will then come up highlighted as you are typing. The main disadvantage with this method is if the board owner is receiving lots of messages, yours could get lost in the mire.

Often the board owner will want you to send them an email. You will need to give them your Pinterest name or URL. This is also an opportunity to send them a link to your own board that you will pin from, which gives them examples of what you will pin, and shows them you are genuine.

Please remember to follow at least one of the board owners boards, otherwise they cannot invite you!

Once invited, what do you do? What about Pinterest etiquette?

Once you are in, you need to follow the rules! You don’t want to get invited to the party of the year, and then get thrown out for misbehaving!

Check in the board description if the board owner has highlighted any rules. Quite often they put a limit on the number of pins per day, and letting other pinners pin before you pin again. A lot of boards also don’t allow Etsy items, (items for sale), and encourage vertical pins.

Don’t invite anyone else! Unless the board owner has specifically stated that you can. This is one way that spammers have managed to be so prolific, by inviting other spammers. So don’t do it, you might get thrown out of the party!!

How do I engage with people?

Talk to people! Pinterest is mainly a visual media, that is why it is good to chat! Not many people are doing it, so you will get noticed more. Be the Party Animal! Re-pin, and also comment. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice!

Chances are, you will get people chatting back, and going over to check out your Pinterest page.

How can group boards help your business?

• If Pinners follow all of the group board contributors boards, then they will also be automatically added as followers to the group boards the contributor is part of.

• This increases your exposure and visibility dramatically, and will also increase your number of followers more quickly.

• As a result of more followers, your pins will get more exposure, and more traffic to your website.

• Getting your followers more engaged with your brand online through your group board improves your online reputation.

• Contributors re-pinning your content are promoting and approving your content, and advertising it to their community.

How do you set up a group board?

Set your group board up as a “secret” board first. This has a number of advantages.• If you are re-pinning from across Pinterest, you aren’t going to clog up your

followers newsfeeds with tons of images of the same thing! Which they could find really annoying, and potentially stop following you!

• It gives you time to work on adding your own images.• Once it becomes public, it has already got loads of pins, and looks good,

rather than looking like an inactive board.

What do you call your board?

To enable your board to be found, you need to choose a name related to the topic. It is also important that you choose the correct category when setting up your board, for search optimisation in Pinterest.

Keep the board secret until you have pins added, and click “create board”

What do I write in the description?You need to add keywords in your board description to make it easier to find. Do not use hashtags, as these are not searchable by Google.

How can people get an invite?

You need to make it very clear and easy. The board description gives you the opportunity to give specific instructions on how potential contributors can contact you. They can either leave a message on a pin, although if your board gets busy, you may not see it! The best way is for them to send you an email with their Pinterest name. Therefore give them instructions to email you with their Pinterest name.

Who do I invite to my group board?

Don’t invite random people! It can be very annoying to pinners, and could result in lots of spam!

• Look for people who would be interested in contributing to the board. Check out their boards, see if they have boards on the same or related topics.

• Look for influencers in your industry, and ask them.• People who already have group boards, and especially group boards in a

related area, are more likely to join, as they are more active on Pinterest, and understand what group boards are all about.

Engage with your community

You organised the party, you are responsible for it! Engage with people – this means like their pins, or even better, comment. This makes them feel appreciated, and they are more likely to pin again!

It’s all about making sure the party is enjoyable for everyone!

RulesMake it very clear in the description how many images they can pin per day, to allow a cross-section of pins. Don’t allow “Etsy” items, or limit the number, unless you want the board to be flooded with things for sale. Make it clear that only you can invite other people, and that no spam is allowed. The majority of spam can be avoided by being selective about who you invite!You don’t want the party to get trashed!

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