How to Find Group Boards on Pinterest

Finding high-quality Pinterest group boards can feel like searching for hidden treasure, but it's one of the most effective ways to get your content in front of a brand new, targeted audience. This guide breaks down actionable, step-by-step methods you can use today to find, vet, and join the best group boards for your niche.

What Exactly Are Pinterest Group Boards (And Why Should You Care)?

Think of a standard Pinterest board as your own personal scrapbook where you collect ideas. A group board, on the other hand, is a collaborative scrapbook. It has one owner, but they invite other people (called contributors) to add their own Pins to it.

So, why is this so powerful? When you Pin to your own board, only your followers will likely see it at first. But when you Pin to a group board, your content is exposed to all the followers of that board - an audience that includes the board owner's followers and all the other contributors' followers combined. Suddenly, a single Pin can reach thousands, or even tens of thousands, of new people.

The benefits are straightforward:

• Massive Reach Boost: You tap into a much larger, pre-built audience.
• Increased Traffic: More eyes on your Pins means more clicks to your website, blog, or store.
• Follower Growth: If people like a Pin you contributed to a group board, they’re likely to click over to your profile and give you a follow.
• Building Authority: Being a contributor on reputable boards in your niche positions you as an expert.

In short, group boards are a strategic shortcut to turbocharging your Pinterest growth without spending a dime on ads.

First Things First: Get Your Profile Ready for Visitors

Before you even start hunting for boards, you need to make sure your own Pinterest profile is ready for inspection. When you ask to join a group board, the owner is going to click over to your profile to check you out. If it looks spammy, incomplete, or off-brand, you'll be rejected instantly.

Here’s a quick pre-flight checklist:

• Optimize Your Profile: Use a clear, professional headshot or logo. Your bio should state exactly who you are, who you serve, and what kind of content you share. Sprinkle in keywords for your niche.
• Create Niche-Specific Boards: Have at least 10-15 well-organized, neatly named boards that are directly related to your niche. This shows the board owner you are focused and will be a relevant contributor. A vegan food blogger requesting to join a "healthy recipes" board should have boards like "Vegan Breakfasts," "Plant-Based Desserts," etc., not "cute puppies" and "dream vacations."
• Pin High-Quality Content: Your boards should be populated with beautiful, vertical pins that add value. This acts as your portfolio, proving that you'll contribute great content to their group board.

Your goal is to make a group board owner think, "Yes, this person is a professional and will be a valuable asset to my community."

Method 1: Find Boards by Observing Other Creators in Your Niche

This is arguably the most effective and reliable way to find excellent group boards. The idea is simple: find successful content creators, bloggers, or competitors in your niche and see which group boards they contribute to. If a board is good enough for them, it's likely a good fit for you, too.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Identify Your Peers: Make a list of 5-10 prominent Pinterest users in your specific niche. These could be bloggers you follow, brands you admire, or just accounts that always pop up when you search for your keywords.
2. Navigate to Their Profile: Go to the profile page of one of these creators.
3. Look at Their Boards: Click on their “Saved” tab to see all the boards they have created or joined.
4. Spot the Group Board Icon: Scan their boards. You are looking for a small icon of two people in the bottom-left corner of the board cover image. That's the universal symbol for a Pinterest group board.

Once you’ve found one, click on it and look at the very top of the board, to the left of the board’s title. You'll see the profile icons of some of the other contributors. If the first icon (the one that says "Created by") is someone other than the creator you were observing… you've found a group board they contribute to!

Rinse and repeat this process for all the influencers on your list. Keep a spreadsheet of potential boards to join so you can track them easily.

Method 2: Using Pinterest’s Native Search Feature

You can also use the Pinterest search bar itself to find group boards, although it requires a bit more digging. This method can help you unearth boards that your competitors might not have found yet. The key is to think like someone naming their group board.

How to Search for Group Boards:

Go to the Pinterest search bar and try different combinations of your main keyword plus common group board terms. For example, if you blog about digital marketing, you might search for:

• "Digital Marketing group board"
• "Social media marketing community board"
• "SEO tips for bloggers contributors"
• "Marketing cooperative board"

When the results load, make sure you've filtered them to show "Boards." Then, scroll through the list and look for that two-person icon on the board covers. While this method can be hit-or-miss, perseverance often pays off.

Method 3: Check External Directories and Communities

For years, third-party sites like Pingroupie were the gold standard for finding group boards. Unfortunately, many of these platforms have become outdated and are no longer maintained. However, communities still exist elsewhere that can be a great resource.

Look for Facebook groups dedicated to Pinterest marketing or blogging in your niche. Search Facebook for terms like "[Your Niche] Bloggers," "Pinterest for Business," or "Pinterest Group Board sharing." In many of these groups, members will occasionally post threads where people can promote their group boards and ask for new contributors. Just be sure to read and follow the Facebook group's rules about promotion.

How to Vet a Group Board so You Don't Waste Your Time

Finding a group board is only half the battle. You have to make sure it's a good group board. A dead, spammy board is worse than no board at all because pinning to it won't help your reach and could even dilute your brand's quality. Before you try to join, do a quick audit.

Your Group Board Quality Checklist:

• Is it Niche-Specific? The board's topic should be a bullseye for your content. A “do-it-all” board covering design, food, fashion, and business is too broad. Its audience will be unfocused. If you’re a food blogger, a board called "The Best Vegan Recipes" is far better than one called "All the Things."
• Is it Active? Look at the board's most recent Pins. Are people adding new content every day? Or was the last Pin from three weeks ago? A steady stream of fresh Pins shows the board is active and has an engaged pool of contributors.
• Is the Content High-Quality? Scroll through the pins. Are they visually appealing, relevant, and interesting? Or is the board full of spammy links, low-quality images, and irrelevant content? You want to join a community that upholds high standards.
• What is the Follower to Contributor Ratio? A board with 50,000 followers and just 30 contributors is a goldmine. Your content will be seen much more often. A board with 50,000 followers and 800 contributors means your Pin will be pushed down the feed almost instantly by other content.
• Are the Rules Clear? Look at the board’s description at the top of the page. A well-managed group board will have clear rules. This shows the owner is actively curating the quality of the board.

The Right Way to Ask to Join a Group Board

Once you’ve found a promising board, it’s time to request an invite. This requires you to be professional, polite, and - most importantly - to follow instructions precisely.

Step 1: Locate the Joining Instructions

Read the board description carefully. This is where 99% of board owners put their joining instructions. They might say something like:

• "Email me at [owner@email.com] with a link to your profile to join."
• "To join, follow this board and my personal profile, then DM me on Pinterest."
• "Fill out the Google Form linked here to apply."
• "Our board is currently closed to new contributors." (In this case, respect it and move on).

Step 2: Follow the Rules to the Letter

If the owner says to email them, do not DM them. If they say to fill out a form, don't leave a comment on their Pin. SMMs and business owners who run group boards are busy, they use these instructions as a first-line filter to weed out people who can’t follow directions. Don't fail this simple test.

Step 3: Craft Your Request

Whether you’re sending an email or a DM, keep it short, professional, and friendly. Your message should include:

• The name of the board you wish to join.
• A link to your Pinterest profile.
• The email address associated with your Pinterest account (this is how they'll send the invite).
• A brief, one-sentence explanation of why you’d be a good fit (e.g., “I create daily content focused on Paleo meal prep, which I think your audience would love.”).

Keep your subject line clear, like "Request to Join [Board Name]" or "Pinterest Group Board Request." Then, be patient. It can take days, or even weeks, to get a response. Move on to your next prospect in the meantime.

Final Thoughts

Finding and joining Pinterest group boards is a powerful, organic marketing strategy that requires a little bit of detective work and professional outreach. By focusing on influential users in your niche, vetting boards for quality, and following submission guidelines exactly, you can effectively expand your content's reach to a massive new audience.

Once you get accepted into a few group boards, you'll find that your content calendar fills up fast. After working with marketing teams and building our own brands, we realized that managing a consistent posting schedule across numerous personal and group boards was a huge headache with older tools. We designed Postbase with a clean, visual content calendar that simplifies this process. You can see your entire schedule at a glance and schedule the same Pin across multiple boards in just a few clicks, saving you a ton of time that you can reinvest into creating even more great content.