How to Add a Collaborator on Pinterest

Adding a collaborator on Pinterest is one of the most effective ways to boost your content's reach and build a stronger community around your brand. This guide will walk you through exactly how to add contributors to group boards, manage team members through a business account, and find the right people to partner with.

Why Collaborate on Pinterest? The Hidden Benefits

You might think of Pinterest as a solo activity - pinning ideas for your home, planning a trip, or saving recipes. But for creators and brands, its collaborative features are a powerful tool for growth. When you add a contributor to one of your boards, you aren't just giving them a place to Pin, you're tapping into their audience, too. Their followers will see the Pins they add to your board, introducing your profile to a new, relevant group of people.

Beyond reach, collaboration offers several advantages:

• Fresh Content &, Perspectives: Collaborators bring new ideas and a different visual style, keeping your boards dynamic and interesting. For a brand, this is an excellent way to source user-generated content organically.
• Shared Workload: Running a popular board takes time. Inviting trusted partners to contribute helps keep the content flowing without it all falling on your shoulders.
• Community Building: A group board can become a hub for a niche community. By inviting your audience to contribute, you foster a sense of belonging and turn passive followers into active participants.
• Increased Engagement: More pins from more people often lead to more Repins, comments, and follows, signaling to the Pinterest algorithm that your board is a valuable resource.

How to Add a Collaborator to a Pinterest Group Board

The most common way to collaborate on Pinterest is through a Group Board. This is simply a regular board that you've invited other people to add Pins to. You can either create a new board specifically for collaboration or convert one of your existing boards into a group hub.

Step-by-Step Guide for Desktop

Here's the process for inviting collaborators from your computer:

1. Navigate to your Pinterest profile and click on the board you want to add contributors to.
2. Just below the board title and description, you'll see your profile icon and next to it, a "Collaborators" button with a plus sign. Click it.
3. A search bar will pop up allowing you to invite people. You can search for them by their Pinterest username or their real name. Note: To invite someone by their username, they must be following you.
4. An alternative is to click the "Copy link" button. This generates a unique invitation link that you can share via email, direct message, or any other platform. Anyone with this link can request to join the board, but you will still have to approve them. This is great for inviting your broader audience to join.
5. Once you've found the person (or people) you want to invite, click the "Invite" button next to their name. An invitation will be sent to them. They need to accept it to start pinning, and their profile icon will appear alongside yours once they do.

You'll remain the board's owner, and you can remove collaborators or disable the invite link at any time by going back into the collaborators menu.

Step-by-Step Guide for the Mobile App (iOS & Android)

Adding someone from your phone is just as simple:

1. Open the Pinterest app and go to your profile.
2. Tap on the board you wish to make collaborative.
3. At the top of the screen, tap the "Collaborators" icon (it looks like a plus sign next to your profile photo).
4. You can search for users to invite directly or tap "Share an invite link" to send a link via text or another app.
5. Tap "Invite" next to the user's name in the search results.
6. Their status will show as "Invited" until they accept. Once they do, they can start pinning immediately.

For Brands: Using Business Access to Add Team Members & Partners

If you run a Pinterest Business account, you might need to give access to team members, an agency, or a social media manager without making them collaborators on every single board. Pinterest's "Business Access" feature is designed for this, offering a more professional and secure way to manage permissions.

This method doesn't make someone a collaborator on a specific public board, it gives them back-end access to your account with specific permissions.

How to Add Team Members via Business Access

1. Log into your Pinterest Business account on a desktop computer.
2. Click the downward arrow in the top-right corner of the screen and select "Settings."
3. On the left-hand navigation menu, click on "Business Access."
4. Click the "Add people" button. You can then invite them using their email address and assign them a specific role.

Understanding Roles and Permissions

Choosing the right role is important for maintaining the security of your account. Here are the options:

• Admin: This is a full-access role. Admins can do everything, including managing Pins, boards, business settings, and ad campaigns. They can also add or remove other people. Only grant this to fully trusted partners or senior team members.
• Analyst: This role is for people who need to see your performance data but not manage content. They can access your Pinterest Analytics and an overview of your ad campaigns but cannot create or edit any Pins or boards. Perfect for a data analyst or marketing leader who needs reporting access.
• Ad Manager: Focused entirely on advertising, this role allows a user to create, edit, and manage ad campaigns and see their analytics. They cannot edit your organic Pins or boards.
• Community Manager: This person can create and manage Pins and boards, respond to comments, and view Analytics. They cannot manage ads or change any high-level business settings. This is the perfect role for a social media coordinator or content creator.
• Finance: Can access and manage billing history and a few high-level account/ad management functions.

Using these defined roles is the best practice for working with agencies or freelancers, as it protects your account while giving your partners the access they need to do their jobs effectively.

Finding & Managing Board Collaborators for Maximum Impact

Knowing how to add a collaborator is just the first step. The real success comes from knowing who to add and how to run the group board effectively.

Where to Find Good Collaborators

• Your Audience: Look for followers who consistently engage with your Pins. They're already familiar with your content and are likely a great fit. Consider sending a broadcast message or email to your list inviting people to join.
• Niche Peers and Complementary Brands: Partner with creators or businesses in adjacent industries. If you're a food blogger focused on baking, collaborate with a creator who photographs kitchenware. Your audiences will likely overlap but aren't in direct competition.
• Online Communities: Facebook groups and other forums dedicated to Pinterest marketing are full of people looking to join and contribute to high-quality group boards.

Setting Rules for Your Group Board

A group board without rules can quickly descend into chaos. If you are the owner, it's your job to set clear expectations. In the board's description field, politely lay out the ground rules.

Common rules include:

• Stay on Topic: "This board is for vegan dessert recipes only."
• Pinning Ratio: "For every one of your own Pins you add, please Repin one from another collaborator." This encourages engagement within the group.
• No Spam/Self-Promotion: "Direct affiliate links are not allowed."
• High-Quality Pins Only: "Please only add vertical images with clear visuals and descriptions." This protects the aesthetic and quality of the board.

As the board owner, don't be afraid to occasionally review collaborator activity and remove those who aren't following the rules. This maintains the board's value for everyone involved.

Final Thoughts

Adding collaborators, whether through a simple group board invitation or structured business access, turns Pinterest into a powerful team platform. It's an excellent organic strategy for expanding your brand's reach, sourcing fresh content, and building a more engaged community around your niche.

As you scale your collaborations and manage content across Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms, keeping everything organized can become a challenge. Having wrestled with clunky, outdated tools ourselves, we built Postbase to streamline this exact process. Our visual calendar lets you plan all your social content in one clean, unified view, making sure your brand messaging stays consistent without the need for messy spreadsheets or multiple tabs. It helps turn chaos into clarity.