How to Find and Join Group Boards on Pinterest

If you’re a beginner blogger looking to use Pinterest marketing to drive traffic to your blog, chances are you’ve heard you should be joining Group Boards to pin your content to. As someone who’s done this, I can understand that this can be an overwhelming task at first. So today I’m going to take you through the process of how to find and join group boards on Pinterest.

More importantly, how to join the RIGHT group boards.

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There is a lot of back and forth on the subject of Pinterest Group Boards right now. Are they even worth our time in late 2019? Many seasoned bloggers say they aren’t performing the way they used to and to just archive them and pin to your own boards. Others find they’re still working.

Personally, I have archived a lot of my group boards that aren’t performing well. But pinning to a handful of high-quality group boards is still working for me. So I’m not ready to give them all up.

 

 

Why aren’t Group Boards as effective as they once were?

Over time, people have started using group boards to just drop their pins and run. They aren’t actively engaging with the third party pins. So Pinterest now sees the pins on those group boards as being boring, inactive pins that no one is interested in. Therefore they’re not getting shown in people’s feeds.

Having said that, I do believe group boards can still offer value to newbie bloggers. They help get your name/face/brand out there in front of more eyes. Getting seen will lead to more followers, increased blog traffic, and potentially more chances to make money!

BUT, for group board to be effective, it’s important to choose quality boards and engage heavily with the other pins within that board.

 

 

What makes a group board a quality board?

• Check out the rules of the board. If the board has rules, they’ll be written directly under the board name. (P.S. This is also where you’ll likely find instructions on how to join the group board.)
Some rules include sharing someone else’s pin for each pin you post to the board. I like to see this rule because it means other pinners will be less likely to just dump pins there and run. Having to repin another pinners content will increase that board’s engagement. This rule tends to result in an active, good quality board.

 

 • Have a look at the pins themselves. Are they attractive, well-designed pins or do they look spammy? Are people staying on topic with the group rules? If the board is full of off-topic, click-bait, spammy pins, this is a good indication that the creator isn’t monitoring the board. It likely also means it’s not getting a lot of engagement from quality accounts.

 

• Avoid boards with multiple topics. You want Pinterest to have a very clear idea of what your pin is about so it gets found in specific searches. Remember that Pinterest is a being used more and more as a search engine. If you put your parenting advice pin on a board that also allows beauty tips, you’re just going to confuse Pinterest as to what your pin is actually about.

 

• Choose group boards with well-keyworded titles and descriptions so it’s again, very clear what the board is about. 

 

 

Okay! Now that that’s out of the way, here are step by step instructions.

How to find and join group boards on Pinterest:

Let’s say you’re wanting to join a group board for parenting tips.

First, type into the Pinterest search bar “Parenting Tips Group Boards” and change the drop-down menu to “Boards”.

Note: it’s important to add the words “group boards” into your search or you’ll simply be shown results for parenting tips BOARDS, not GROUP Boards.

 

 

Next, click on the group board that interests you. Remember to try to pick a well-established board with a good number of pins/followers.

It should be noted, actually finding a group board to join can take some time. You’ll be met with various ways to request joining.

 

Request to Join Button

This is the easiest way to find and join group boards. I don’t see it all that often, but if you’re lucky, you can simply click on the “Request to Join” button like the group pictured below. If this is the case, do a happy dance and simply click that button and your request will be pending approval by the board creator.

 

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Fill out a request form

It’s not always that simple though. Some boards, like the example below, you’ll be asked to fill out a request form. Do this by copying and pasting the URL provided in the board description into your browser and following the instructions provided. Then you’ll just have to wait patiently to be approved.

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Board Closed to Contributors

And some boards may simply be closed to contributors, like the one below. This is the most frustrating part about joining group boards on Pinterest. You’ll encounter this quite a bit. Just go back to your search and try again for an open board.

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Send a message to join

On some boards, like this one, you’ll be asked to send the board creator a message requesting to join:

This is great! Now we’re getting somewhere! Now, who do you send the message to??

Sometimes it’s the person who’s profile picture appears first in the list of contributors. SOMETIMES.

 

So you may think it’s this person:

 

But in this case, it’s not. To figure out exactly who you should be sending a message to, click on the photos of contributors. A list of all members will open. The board owner is generally the person at the very top of the list. However, Pinterest can be glitchy on occasion and I’ve seen this to not be true a handful of times. To be absolutely sure you’ve got the right person, simply check the URL. You’ll be able to see who’s Pinterest account the board originated with.

 

Now you can send the board creator a direct message and say something like, “Hi there, I was wondering if you are currently accepting new members to your Parenting Group Board. I’d love a chance to contribute.”

And then you wait to hear back or get a notification that you are now a contributor to the group board.

 

 

But wait! Some of you beginner bloggers who are brand new to Pinterest Marketing may be saying:

“How do I send a Pinterest message?”

No worries! Simply click on the little conversation bubble to the right of your profile photo/name. Type in the person or account you’re wanting to message, select them, and start typing your message in the “Add a message” box. Done!

Now you wait for notification that you’ve been accepted to the board. Once the board creator accepts your requests, the board will appear in your list of boards and you’ll be able to pin to it the same way you’d pin to your own.

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You may want to find and join a few group boards at once to increase your chances of getting added to at least one. Sometimes you may never hear back. But in my opinion, that’s a blessing in disguise. If the board owners aren’t managing their board requests, chances are they aren’t monitoring the board or even being all that active on Pinterest. You don’t need any of that!

Sometimes you have to try a board out for a while to decide whether or not it’s worth your time. Watch your notifications and take note which boards are getting repins from the most.

You can also use the Board Insights feature on Tailwind.

Not on Tailwind yet? What?! Try it for free HERE.

If you are already using Tailwind, you’ll want to open up your Board Insights Tab in your sidebar menu on the far left.

 

Next, deselect Secret Boards and Regular Boards. You only want Group Boards to be selected.

From here you can see which of your group boards are performing the best. You want to keep and pin to the boards with the highest engagement score. This will fluctuate so it’s important to keep checking it. 

Note: Your instinct may be to join group boards with the highest number of followers/pins. BUT just because a board has a lot of followers and pins doesn’t necessarily mean it’s getting good engagement. Pinterest needs to see the board is active for it to really be considered a high-quality place for you to pin your pins. If the board has low engagement, Pinterest will just ignore it.

Notice that in the picture above my top-performing group board only has 199 followers!

Take note of the boards at the bottom of the list. If it’s rare you get repins from these boards, you may want to consider archiving them.

 

But wait….why archive a board and not just delete it?

You went to a lot of trouble finding, requesting, joining those group boards. It seems like such a waste to flat out delete them. You can opt to Archive them instead. This means you will no longer be able to pin to them. And they won’t be visible to people viewing your account. But you can unarchive them at any time if you change your mind.

To Archive a group board on Pinterest, click on the pencil icon:

Next, you simply click the Archive button. You’re done!

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Final thoughts about Pinterest Group Boards

The debate about whether group boards are an effective pinning strategy is still just that – debatable.

At the end of the day, you just have to try different things and see what works for YOU. No two Pinterest accounts are the same and what works for some may not work for another. There is no “one size fits all” strategy when it comes to Pinterest Marketing. There is a lot of trial and error. Throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks!

Make sure you follow the board rules. Even if the rules don’t say you have to repin someone else’s pin after leaving your own, it’s really good practice to share a third party’s pin anyway. Even better if you share a few! Remember that you want Pinterest to see the pins on that board are getting repins. If you’re leaving your pins there, you want that board to be viewed as active.

Finally, remember to go for quality over quantity. Join a few group boards and see how it goes FOR YOU. Then, adjust your strategy accordingly.

I hope this helps you find and join group boards on Pinterest 🙂

Happy pinning!

 

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