How to use Pinterest group boards as a wedding photographer in 2020
Group boards can be a great way to expand your reach on Pinterest. You can get your pins in front of new people and grow your account at the same time. In this blog post, I'm listing 3 types of group boards for you to either participate in or create and how to use them. I'll also explain how to use group boards and 2020 and what has changed in the last couple of years.
What are group boards anyway?
For those who are not (that) familiar with Pinterest and all of its functionalities, let me first explain the difference between "regular" boards and group boards. Regular boards are boards that we create on our Pinterest profile (business or personal) to categorize pins that we save. Other Pinterest users can follow our boards, but we are the only ones that can save content to it.
On the other hand, group boards work in a more collaborative way. Two or more Pinterest users can create a group board together, and everyone who is a part of it can save pins to the board.
The difference between group boards in the past and now
Group boards have been a part of Pinterest for quite a few years now. They were created with intent so that Pinterest users could easily share content and ideas with one another. Of course, savvy Pinterest users recognized this opportunity and started using group boards to grow their following base and reach for their content. Enormous group boards with hundred or more members and thousands of followers started to appear. Everyone who was a part of them had a great advantage from those who weren't since they were able to get their content in front of hundreds of people.
However, a lot has changed in the last couple of years, and group boards are not as amazing as they used to be. That is why, if you are looking for tips on how to use group boards, make sure to find articles that are as recent as possible. Pinterest started to diminish the power group boards once had so that they could return back to what they were meant for - a collaboration between friends. Now, being part of a large group board can even do you more harm than good. That's why you should focus your group board strategy on staying small(er).
Joining existing group boards - how to find them & which to choose?
The name says it all - the existing group boards are well, those that already exist. They were created by someone else, and they already have other members who are participating in them.
There are different ways of how you can find group boards to join. One of them is to use a tool such as Pingroupie that allows you to search group boards by keywords and even gives you a score. You can also join Facebook Groups for Pinterest boards where members share invitations to join their group boards. Or you can look for them yourself.
The last option is my favourite one, and as someone who manages several Pinterest accounts, I also found it to be the most useful. What I do is to take a look at big Pinterest profiles within my niche. I go through their board list and check which group boards they are part of. Then, I scroll through each board and see if my (or my client's) content would fit in. If not, I leave and look for a better one. As a wedding photographer, you should especially pay attention to this part. Why? If your photography style is more dark and moody, then your photos wouldn't fit in with a group board that is filled with light, fine art photos. Not only that, your pins probably wouldn't be successful because the followers of the board are not looking for the kind of photos you are creating. Simply, they are not your target audience. This should probably be one of the most important criteria when evaluating if the group board is the right one to join.
How else to decide which group boards are good for you?
As I already mentioned, two numbers to pay attention to are the number of participants and the number of followers. If 50 or more users are contributing to the board already, then it is most likely too crowded for you. Your pins will disappear in between the rest, and it might even hurt your performance on the platform. Personally, I would stick with group boards that have less than 20 contributors because these are the ones you can get the most advantage from.
What about the number of followers? Some Pinterest experts say that they wouldn't join a group board that has a smaller following than you do. I somehow disagree when it comes to this. Just because you may have more followers than a group board that is otherwise a great fit for you, that is not a disadvantage. Just because you have 2000 followers and there are 1400 followers following that group board, they are still different people. That is why you can still reach new users even when the numbers are lower. However, if there are only 100 or so people following the board and you already have over 1000 followers, then yes, this group board is probably too small for you.
The last thing you should know about joining existing group boards is that you probably won't get in. Some group boards are closed and not accepting new members, others might just be forgotten by their admins. Whatever may be the reason, don't let that discourage you from even trying.
Creating new group boards yourself - how to do it?
In case you don't want to spend time looking for group boards to join or feel like none of them really fit you, you can create one yourself. Get a couple of your wedding photography friends (or other wedding industry professionals) and start a group board together. The technical aspect of it will only take a minute since all you have to do is create a new board as usual and invite friends to it. One thing to note here is the fact that by doing this, you won't actually get any new followers right away. You will be creating the board so your followers will be the ones following it. To help each other out, each of you can create one group board and this way all of you get to reach new followers. Just make sure that you pick a different theme for each of the group boards (like wedding portraits, wedding ceremony, wedding details etc).
Another thing worth trying is to create group boards together with your clients. I'm sure you've already had a client or two who would send you inspiration photos from Pinterest before their wedding. Take advantage of that by inviting them to create a board and invite you to it. You can even encourage them to go through your photos on Pinterest and save those that they especially like. Afterwards, when the wedding is over, you can pin their photos to the board and therefore get your photos in front of their followers too - if they agree of course!
To sum up:
Group boards are not what they used to be. Participating in those that have a lot of contributors or no specific theme can even hurt your performance on Pinterest.
When looking for group boards, make sure that the content that is already in them fits in with yours.
Find new group boards to join by going through a group list of other Pinterest profiles within your industry.
Create group boards together with your friends to widen each other's reach.
Ask your clients to invite you to their wedding inspiration board and pin photos from their wedding to it with their permission.
