Pinterest Group Boards: How to Join and Drive More Blog Traffic

You’ve probably heard the same advice time and again when it comes to growing your blog traffic with Pinterest:

“Join group boards and pin your content to them often!”

It sounds like a simple undertaking, until you actually try to find and join said group boards. How do you even search for great group boards in your niche when Pinterest doesn’t have a specific search for this anyway?

After spending hours finding boards that are the right fit, half of them are not accepting contributors, and the ones that are have a bunch of elaborate hoops you have to jump through in order to join.

I know from personal experience that the whole finding/joining group process can be totally frustrating. This is especially true if you’re new to blogging or using Pinterest for business.

I have a strong background with Instagram and wanted to expand my efforts into Pinterest because I’ve seen so many bloggers raving about how +70% of their traffic comes from Pinterest. I totally wanted in on that.

Though I haven’t reached the heights that some bloggers have, Pinterest accounted for almost 40% of my blog traffic in 2017:

But things didn’t start out so easy for me on Pinterest. When I set out to find some group boards to join in my niche I because very overwhelmed and very confused very quickly.

I did eventually manage to figure it out, and I’ve put together a simple system that you can use on repeat to find and join as many group boards as you need to. My traffic has improved so much as a result, and I can’t recommend Pinterest enough as a legitimate growth strategy.

In order to make the most out of Pinterest group boards, you’ll need to make sure your pins are not only looking fabulous but that they are effective in driving shares and clicks.

I learned how to create eye-catching pins that get shared thousands of times and drive traffic to my site by taking this course The Perfect Pin.

The guys behind the course (Jeff and Ben from Breaking the One Percent) really know their Pinterest — they get over 7,500,000 monthly views on their pins and over 100,000 in traffic to their websites solely from Pinterest.

Inside the course, they show you the secrets behind the pin design that brings in those numbers.

So without further ado, here are the 5 steps you’ll need to follow in order to successfully join group boards on Pinterest, and start bringing in more traffic to your blog or biz.

Step-by-Step: How to Find and Join Group Boards on Pinterest

Step 1: Make a list of bloggers and influencers in your niche

The first step in finding good group boards to join is to find other bloggers and influencers in your niche of all sizes. Because chances are they’re on Pinterest and they’ve joined at least a few group boards.

So write down the names of as many influencers in your niche that you can think of, then head on over and check out their blogs. If you don’t know any, try typing keywords for your niche along with “blog” or “blogger” into Google to find some.

You’re going to find out which ones are on Pinterest (look for social media buttons on their website), and follow them on Pinterest so you have easy access to them later.

The reason you want to target blogger and influencers of all different sizes is because you may not be able to get invited to the top boards that the top influencers are using. If you’re just getting started, you’ll have to start smaller and work your way up as your following and influence grows.

I’ve written a blog post that includes all my best tips and tricks for getting your Pinterest strategy off on the right foot. So if you’re into setting up your whole Pinterest process efficiently and effectively, this post will really help you out.

Step 2: Find the group boards they’re contributing to on Pinterest

Once you’ve followed an influencer on Pinterest, take a look through their profile to see what group boards they’re contributing to.

You’re looking for the circular “group board icon” in the lower left-hand corner that marks a board as a group board:

Select the ones that look like they’d be a good fit for you, then click on them to be take to the group board.

Step 3: Identify + follow the group creator

One you find yourself on the group board page, read the group description looking for information about whether the group is open to new contributors or not.

If it is, great!

Go ahead and follow the group board. You’ll need to be following both the group board and the group creator in order to be able to receive an invite.

Now, to find the creator:

Near the top of the board, you’ll see an expandable list of all the board contributors. The first person in the list is always the group creator, so click on their picture to be taken to their Pinterest profile.

You’ll normally need to be following them before they can add you to the group board, so hit that follow button before you do anything else.

Step 4: Follow instructions to request an invitation

Now that you’re following the group board and the group creator, head back to the group board to find instructions for becoming a contributor. Most boards will include this in the group description, and they usually require you to either email the creator or leave a comment asking to be added.

In either case, you should follow instructions and do what is asked for the best chance of being added.

Request an invite via email:

Send an email to the provided email address asking to join the group board. Remember to include the name of the group board you are requesting, and include your Pinterest email (the one you signed up for your account with) and/or your Pinterest link. You can find your Pinterest link by going to your profile and copy + pasting the URL in the browser.

Including a link to your blog can help you out substantially, since they can check it out and confirm you’re legit and not a spammer.

Request an invite via comment:

Instructions vary from group to group, so make sure you follow them closely. What I see most often is that you are asked to comment on one of the group creators most recent posts, requesting to join.

If you can’t find any posts within the group that belong to the creator, head on over to their profile and click the ‘Pins’ tab. It’ll show you all their pins, starting with the most recent. Choose one and leave your comment, tagging them with their @ for your best chance to be seen.

*You can find a user’s username by looking at the URL of their Pinterest page. For example, my URL is:

www.pinterest.com/gorattlethestar/

…and my username would be @gorattlethestar. If you were to tag me in a comment you would include @gorattlethestar in your comment.  

Remember to include the specific board name that you want to join in your comment when you are asking to be included.

What to do if there are no instructions for joining:

I normally skip boards that have no information about joining because they’re often not accepting new contributors. But if you’ve found a board that you absolutely love and want to be a part of, there’s no harm in trying!

When there are no instructions you can do one of three things:

• Find the group creator’s blog (they usually have a link in their Pinterest profile) and look for their email or contact form. Send them a friendly email with all the information outlined above (What board you’re requesting invite for, your Pinterest email, Pinterest link, and blog URL)

• Leave a comment on the group creator’s most recent pin. Follow the same guidelines outlined above for requesting invites via comment.

• Message the group creator directly on Pinterest, asking to become a contributor on the specific group board and including all the essential information we already talked about.

How to send a direct message on Pinterest:

Click the “…” symbol at the top of the profile of the account you want to message, and choose “Message this person”.

Not everyone is going to get back to you, so it’s a good idea to try joining as many boards as you can. You may send out requests to 20 group boards, but only get answers and invites from 10 of them.

Don’t take it personally! 

People are busy, accounts go inactive, and group boards end up with too many contributors to be managed. If you don’t get an invite, move along to the next board.

Step 5: Rinse and Repeat

For that reason, you want to repeat this process over and over until you’re happy with the number of group boards you are in. I find that 10-20 group boards is a good place to start in getting more exposure for your pins and more traffic to your blog.

So go down that list of influencers you made in step 1 and request invites for as many of the group boards that they’re a part of as you can. Make sure they’re a good fit for your blog and biz as you go.

These boards are filled with other influencers, so you can repeat this process almost endlessly by seeking out new influencers, checking out their group boards, and joining those group boards yourself!

Bonus Tip #1: Sign up for Tailwind

Once you’ve joined your fair share of group boards, you can automate your pinning and put your blog traffic acquisition on autopilot with Tailwind.

I honestly can’t recommend this tool enough.

Tailwind is a Pinterest scheduler with a TON of amazing features, like really good analytics (which are MUCH better than the native Pinterest Analytics). I personally use Tailwind to schedule my content to Pinterest for WEEKS in advance — it’s a HUGE time saver for me!

If you want to give Tailwind a try, you’re in luck:

Tailwind has a FREE 14-day trial available if you’d like to test the waters before committing to a monthly plan.

For me, the $14 a month for Tailwind is COMPLETELY worth it — because of Tailwind I’m seeing 4X the blog traffic I had beforehand, which will eventually translate into more sales and profits for me in the long run.

If you’re still on the fence, just think about all the benefits you’ll get out of it, in increased traffic and subsequent sales.

The more you post, the faster you’ll grow.

Bonus Tip #2: Create Viral Pins with The Perfect Pin

The guys over at Breaking the One Percent have a fantastic course called The Perfect Pin that teaches you exactly how to create pins that go viral. They get over 7,500,000 views per month on their Pinterest content, so they really know their stuff.

When I enrolled in The Perfect Pin I already knew quite a bit about Pinterest and what works — but I learned so many new things in this course that I hadn’t thought of before!

I highly recommend you sign up if you’re serious about creating great pins that drive a ton of traffic to your website.