How To Get Invited To Pinterest Group Boards

This weekend I finally set up my Pinterest group boards.  I know, I know!   I should have done it a long time ago, but it's kind of a lot of work!  Although I truly love Pinterest, I really wish there was an easier way to invite people to group boards!  Each person who wants to join has to contact you through email (that's a lot of email to deal with) and each person has to be added individually to each board.  Pinterest are you listening?  There has got to be a better way to do this!  Since this is the system we're working with, here's everything you need to know about using Pinterest group boards.

  

For this tutorial, I'll refer to the person who starts a group board as the board administrator.  This is the person who is responsible for creating and maintaining the group board as well as inviting others to pin on the board.  The board administrator can also decide to remove members who don't pin appropriately (see below) and they can delete the entire group board if they choose to.

Contributors are the people who are invited to pin on a group board.

Tips for board administrators:

Make it easy for contributors to join your board by posting clear instructions.  
This is such an important thing to do!  The easier it is for pinners to contact you and join your board, the more people will be part of the board and the more exposure everyone gets for their pins.  Often when I visit a group board, there's no information about who created the board or how to join it.  Many times I'll see "email me for a board invite" in the board description, but pinners can't tell who started the board and don't know who you are or how to contact you.

You can use up to 500 characters in the board description to let people know exactly how to contact you and how to join the board.  If you already have a group board, it's easy to click "edit" to change or update the contact information on your group board.  

Use a separate email address for group board invites.  
As a board administrator, you may want to create a separate email address for your group boards.  This keeps your main email inbox from filling up with group board requests.  It also prevents your main email address from receiving potential spam.  If you do start getting spam, you can easily change your email address without it affecting your main email account.

Tips for board contributors:

Follow the board administrator.

This is Pinterest's rule and you simply can't be added to a group board unless you are following the person who created it.  You must follow the person, not just the board you want to pin to. If the person pins a lot or has a lot of boards that don't interest you, don't worry.  You can always unfollow some (not all) of their boards after you follow them and are invited to their group boards.

Contact the board administrator and ask for an invite.  
This is sometimes difficult to do if the board administrator hasn't left clear instructions. (see above)  Here's a trick.  The first person listed as an editor is the person who started the board and that's the person you should contact.

Know the difference between your Pinterest email, url, and user name.
Your Pinterest email is the email account that you used to open your Pinterest account.  This is where all of your Pinterest updates and notifications are sent to.  If you don't remember what email account is connected to Pinterest, click on your name on the upper right corner.  Click settings on the drop down menu. 

The email address at the top is your Pinterest email address and this is what the board administrator needs in order to invite you to a group board.

Your Pinterest url is the direct web address of your main Pinterest page.  For example my Pinterest url is http://www.pinterest.com/bbrewer/

Your Pinterest user name is how you are known on Pinterest and how people can search for you on Pinterest.

Board administrators only need your Pinterest email address and not your Pinterest url or user name to add you to a group board.

Use the correct email address (your Pinterest email) to contact the board administrator

Most of us have more than one email account.  When you request an invite to a group board, send the request from your Pinterest email - the email account that you used to sign up for your Pinterest account.  The board administrator will use your email address to send you an invitation through Pinterest.  If you contact a board administrator from an email that's not connected or associated with your Pinterest account, your invitation will show up in your inbox, but it won't work because it's not connected to your Pinterest account.  

Accept your invitation

Once the board administrator has added you to the group board, you will receive a notice from Pinterest in your email.  If you have your email settings turned off in Pinterest, you may not get the invitation.  Another place to look is in the upper right corner of your Pinterest page.  Next to your name is a red box with a number.  This gives you updates on who has pinned from you and who started following you.  It also gives you updates about who has invited you to group boards.  Look here for your invitation.

Pin responsibly

After accepting an invitation to pin on a group board, you must pin responsibly or the board administrator will delete you from the board.  

• Pin only a few images at a time.  If you pin 10 - 20 images at a time, everyone who is following that board will be flooded with your pins.  
• Pin images that relate to the board.  If the group board is all about recipes, don't pin something that's about how to paint furniture.
• Don't pin the same thing over and over again.  People visit Pinterest for new ideas so be sure to pin a variety of pins. 

Visit the Pinterest Group Board Directory.

Be sure to join the Pin Junkie group boards!
Craft Community board
DIY Community board
Recipe Community board