Groups are amazing: How they can help you

There are two types of groups on PurplePort:

• Official (PurplePort created) groups
• Member created groups

Now, member created groups are often under used. This is because creating and running your own group does take some dedication. It requires you to put effort into maintaining your group by promoting it and inviting others to join. However, for many of our members (models, photographers, studios, and, in fact, anyone that runs events) the benefits from promoting yourself using a group can be huge.

Sadly many member created groups fail because no-one puts in the initial work to get them started. If you create a group it is essential that you regularly post in it or add images to it. To help you with this, we've even written a handy article called PurplePort guide to member created groups.

Groups that are open (i.e. not "private" or "invite only") can be found by clicking Groups at the top of every page and then clicking the Find & Join button near top right.

So, let's look at some of the major benefits of creating your own group.

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

For anyone that 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 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.

And 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 whatever subject the group is about. 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 so can any other member of the group.

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 have an easier way to arrange your group.
• Essentially you are anyone that wishes to have a one-to-many relationship or wishes to easily collaborate on projects with a group of people.

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!