Groups are amazing: How they can help you

There are two types of groups on PurplePort:

• Official (PurplePort created) groups
• Member created groups

Open groups (i.e. not "private" or "invite only") can be found by clicking Groups (top of every page) and Find & Join (top right).

Creating and running your own group takes dedication, and you must put effort into maintaining it by promoting it and inviting others to join. Groups created by members are often underused, and many fail because no one puts in the initial work to get them started. It is essential that you regularly post in or add images to any group you create.

If you decide to create your own group, we recommend reading The PurplePort Guide to Member Created Groups.

You can also click here to see all of our articles about the groups. 

The benefits of creating your own group

For many of our members (models, photographers, studios  - in fact, anyone who runs events), the benefits of promoting yourself using a group can be huge.

Here are some scenarios where having a group could help you

• You are a studio and you wish to promote your events or studio days to a wider audience than would otherwise see in the castings/events systems.
• You are a model that travels and you wish to promote your availability to a wider audience (as above).
• You have an idea for an image collection that you think other people might enjoy participating in.
• You are a photographer who regularly shoots with a group and wishes to arrange your group more easily.
• Essentially you are anyone who wishes to have a one-to-many relationship or wishes to easily collaborate on projects with a group of people.

Let's look at some of the major benefits of creating your own group.

One-to-many relationship with people who are interested in you

For anyone who runs any kind of event, this is a fabulous way of keeping your potential customers directly updated.

Once you invite people to your group (e.g. your followers, anyone in your area, etc), then you can start posting about your events.

You can also enable the group so that people can submit images straight into it, which means that anyone attending your events can upload their images and show everyone else what a great event they attended. This also means that anyone attending your events in the future can easily see some of the amazing images you have helped to create, and this is a similar story for studios.

For models - especially travelling models - you can post your casting calls into your own group (either by links or by adding the entire content of the casting call). People can ask questions about your casting calls and communicate directly with you.

Your group, your rules

This is your group, so it's your rules.

This also applies to the rule of “no casting calls in the groups.” If you want, you can post all of your casting calls and events straight into your group for everyone to see.

Add an image collection, which can then be displayed on the homepage by a gadget

Allowing people to submit images to your group, whatever the topic, is a great way to spruce up your group and promote its subject. For models, this could be photos taken of you. For studios, it could be photos taken at your studio (and so on).

Having an image collection in your group is great, but you can also have those images displayed on your customised home page, and any other member of the group can, too.

So, create a group and start inviting people!

If you own a studio and host model days or events, if you are a model who travels and wishes to reach a wider audience, or if you are a photographer wishing to work with a group of like-minded people, a group can really help you. So, go on. Get creating!