• Introduction
• Preparation - Strategy
• Pre-Launch - Expectations
• Launch - Execution
• Post-Launch - Growth / Conclusion

Once you've chosen your strategy and found your bloggers, you'll need to set expectations with them. Each blogger's actions will affect the reputation of the sponsoring organization, of the other bloggers, and of the blog itself, so all parties will need to be comfortable with these standards.

First come analogs of journalistic standards. Controversial statements are fine (and will probably increase traffic), but libel (false and damaging statements) is illegal in the US. Be sure bloggers understand the difference. While no law requires the retraction and correction of an error, it's good practice for bloggers to strike through that text and add a correction, either at that point or at the bottom of the post. Let your bloggers know that you require them to do this. For a particularly important error, they may want to also write a new post explaining and correcting it. Writing a new post without altering the original one shouldn't be permitted, since visitors may come only to the original post from a search engine and not see the correction.

Next, set up your posting/commenting standards. One common method is to assign a person to each day you plan to post (for instance, one blogger is responsible for posting every other Tuesday). Bloggers should be expected to monitor and comment in the comment threads of their own posts, and you'll jumpstart commenting and increase the community feel of your blog by also expecting them to comment on your other bloggers' posts on a regular schedule. If your posting schedule has each blogger posting every two weeks, it's reasonable to expect them to also make a comment on another post every two weeks.

Determine how you'll allow content reuse. Can your bloggers cross-post their writing on their own sites/blogs or elsewhere? Must they wait before republishing? This is related to the copyright decision in the preparation stage above.

Set expectations as well for leaving the blog. You should require bloggers to give you some notice when they quit - for someone who writes every two weeks, maybe they need to give you a month's warning. On the other hand, if a blogger isn't meeting the expectations set above, have a process for ending their participation. They might be removed if they miss a certain number of posts, a certain number in a row, if they miss without warning you a certain number of days in advance, etc. You should also determine what will happen if you decide to stop sponsoring the blog: will you take down the site, will you leave it up but static, or will you sell it to the bloggers or another organization? That plan might change over time, but you need an initial idea.

You'll want a written agreement laying out the above expectations, and your lawyer may want it to include a clause in which bloggers indemnify you for any libel they might commit. It's unclear whether this will actually protect you (depends on how much you dictate the content, whether the blogger has the resources to pay any judgement, etc.), but do have your lawyer work with you on the agreement.

Finally, set expectations for readers: draft a privacy policy, a comment policy, and needed disclaimers. The sponsoring organization will create the privacy policy, which should mention how commenters' information will be used - for instance, if they will be subscribed to the newsletter of the sponsoring organization. The sponsoring organization will create and have final say over the comment policy, though the bloggers must be comfortable with it. In particular, bloggers will need to agree on how rude, insulting, or irrelevant comments should be dealt with (look up disemvoweling for one option). You may be able to have one overarching disclaimer, or you may need to have each blogger create a personal disclaimer to be inserted at the bottom of her posts, depending on her own legal counsel's advice.

• Introduction
• Preparation - Strategy
• Pre-Launch - Expectations
• Launch - Execution
• Post-Launch - Growth / Conclusion

The first part of your strategy is the same as for starting an individual blog: choose your focus/niche, determine your expected audience, and choose the blog name / domain name (and trademark them if you choose). Once you have those, start compiling a list of related blogs, both as a resource for your writers (who can react to related posts) and to use in your promotion efforts.

Then start recruiting your bloggers, and determine (probably with their help) how you're going to structure ownership and copyrights for this blog.  Most likely the bloggers will want to retain copyright on the posts they write, while the sponsoring organization will have the right to publish those posts indefinitely.  If you're interested in rights to republish the content in other forms (ebooks, podcasts, white papers, books), make sure to discuss that early!  See the content reuse and leaving the blog sections (in later posts in this series) for additional considerations.  The sponsoring organization will probably own the blog name, domain name, and design.

You'll want a variety of bloggers with different expertise and viewpoints, so don't rely on one person's network to find them. Consider teaming up with established bloggers, and consider recruiting excellent writers who've never read a blog.  Note that in a group blog you probably don't want ghostwriting, because that additional layer of coordination will be frustrating over time.

All your bloggers should have a full understanding of the focus/niche of this group blog.  Unless it's intended to be a blog about your organization, don't force bloggers to write only about the sponsoring organization and its work: the blog will have far more credibility if its authors provide interesting, wide-ranging voices on a topic rather than sticking to the company line.  It's actually good to be criticized occasionally on the blog (but do offer your point of view politely in the comments).  Controversy attracts readers and starts discussions!

Plan your categories early.  You'll want a way to see all posts by one author, but that shouldn't be your only category scheme.  One of the best things about group blogs is the way different bloggers' posts play off each other, so plan to categorize posts by subject area as well. If you're planning way ahead, a nonobvious piece of advice is to think about categories as forming the basis of book chapters, so it will be easier to repurpose your content in the future.

More prosaically, while starting an individual blog definitely requires less coordination than sponsoring a group blog, a group blog can multiply your efforts since others will be helping with writing and promotion.  You'll be able to spend more time on making the blog successful, rather than on creating all the content yourself.

There are four stages in starting a group blog.  The first is preparation, in which you set your strategy by determining your topic, your audience, and your bloggers. The second is pre-launch, in which you get down to the nitty-gritty of expectations for bloggers, for the sponsoring organization, and for the public.  The third is launch, in which you create and publicize the blog.  Finally, the fourth is post-launch growth, in which you monitor the continuing effort of writing and promoting the blog.

This post starts a weekly series on what you need to do and the decisions you need to make to start an effective group blog.  It's written from our experience (lots of thought about legalities, for instance) so we're hoping others will chime in with more advice!  Why should (or shouldn't) someone consider starting a group blog?

Starting a Group Blog series:

• Introduction
• Preparation - Strategy
• Pre-Launch - Expectations
• Launch - Execution
• Post-Launch - Growth / Conclusion

According to AdAge, more companies are now realizing that relationships lead to results: More Marketers Want to Get to Know You: CRM Surges as Brands Demand Measurable Results.

Feel-good talk about leveraging CRM -- the art of using tools such as database maintenance and customer segmentation -- to boost understanding of consumers isn't anything new. Ask around, though, and industry folks will tell you 2008 is shaping up to be the year in which companies put their money where their mouths are -- with a looming recession making brands more sensitive than ever about the returns on their marketing investments. CRM-software-industry global revenue is projected to jump 14.2% this year to $8.9 billion, according to research house Gartner.

Nonprofits that cultivate relationships with their donors and volunteers can offer advice to companies:

• Your customers will help you - if you support them
• Share customer information with other divisions - you're all working toward the same goals
• Consider implementing CRM in stages rather than all at once - simple and used is better than complete and ignored
• Customers have different goals, so they respond best to different communications
• Invest time in managing the CRM - "it's just a tool and won't raise money on its own."
• Make sure your metrics tell you if customers' involvement with you increases over time
• Plan for your CRM to grow with your company

What else can nonprofits teach?

Some of the “blogthroughs” (my new favorite blog buzzword) that Dr. Perlmutter believes brought these once fringe writers in the 1990’s to today’s prominent political figures:
• The ease of making your own page
• The ease of disseminating and receiving content
• The rise of the Daily Show bringing news to 18-29 year olds
• The growing attention to blogs from mainstream media

Watch Dr. Perlmutter’s recent chat with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show below.

And, if you’re not on the list for the monthly Internet Advocacy Roundtable – please click here to join us next time!

To its credit, Israel, when it received these videos acted swiftly to denounce the actions and to punish those involved.  The videos have now appeared around the world thanks to the Internet, blogs and YouTube.   It is fair to say that today; no one can assume their actions will remain hidden.  Of course, there are a host of privacy issues when video is taken of people engaged in ordinary acts of living and have no reason to expect their actions to be documented. 

The impact of the video/internet combination as a tool to hold power accountable is a game changer.   There are other examples.  In Virginia former Senator George Allen was brought now largely by the video tape made by a Warner campaign worker. And there are be more examples I am sure. 

Video is of growing importance in all campaigns.  The equipment is inexpensive and the quality is incredible even when taken by the least experienced.  Expect to see more and more organizations figure out how to integrate video into their work.  And expect to see the more change in the world as a result

Reuben Steiger's post goes on, "Collectively, the kids in this "mall" are spending over $1.5 billion on avatars, clothing, pets and the like. That's real money on virtual stuff." It's real money on stuff now largely created by the virtual world operators, but that will shift over time, especially in adult- rather than child-oriented worlds. Because Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, says content creators own the rights to items they build, most things in that world are built by residents, including corporations and nonprofits that have chosen to move in and join the community. That kind of system will become more wide-spread over time.

So what organizations will be able to interact successfully with supporters in future virtual worlds? Those that begin to get involved now will have an enormous advantage. It takes some trial and error to avoid stepping on residents' toes, and it takes time to learn to build both items and campaigns. We're excited to be helping our clients hold events and launch their own spaces in Second Life, and we look forward to virtual worlds' population growth and resulting impact.