4 Pillars of Excellent Blogging: Pillar 4 Community

Over the last month(-ish) I have examined three of four pillars of successful blogging – consistency, content, and tone.  Hold onto your hats because today is the exciting conclusion to this white-knuckled blogging series:  community!  

“Community” is all about directly connecting with your fellow bloggers and readers in your posts, comments, and overall dealings on the web.  That’s right, in case it wasn’t difficult enough consistently writing engaging content in an accessible tone, now you need to get out there and include others. 

Community is one of the fundamental pillars because blogging is about creating a conversation between you and your readers, the readers with each other, and other bloggers and their readers.  Ignore the community and you lose not only a big part of what it means to have a blog, but you’ll likely miss out on the traffic that you’re seeking by having the blog in the first place. 

A blog’s growth and popularity are tightly connected with how many other bloggers link to the blog (and, no, not in a blog roll type of way either) and the comments that result.  Furthermore, you want other bloggers talking about you because when they talk about you, they are talking about you to their entire readership.  That sort of organic promotion is hugely valuable (and definitely more valuable than paid promotion), but it takes serious work.       

"Engage."

There are three main ways to involve readers and bloggers:  1. Link to other blogs; 2. Respond to (some) comments; and 3. Be active in the space.

You’re Not Alone and Neither is Your Blog, So Start Linking
Like I said above, successful blogs regularly respond and riff off of what they find on other blogs.  In fact, blog aggregator Technorati determines the reach and popularity of a blog by tracking how many other blogs are linking to it on consistent basis.  Back in the old days of blogging (way back in 2002/2003), a blogger would analyze his traffic and see the sites directing traffic his way.  If he saw lots of traffic coming from another blog, he would go check out why and frequently respond, in kind, on his own blog.  His readers would then be made aware of this other blog, thereby increasing the visibility of the blog sending him traffic in the first place.

It’s important to keep your expectations under control when you start linking to other blogs, especially the big ones.  Big blogs (e.g., HuffingtonPost.com, DailyKos.com) notice big traffic.  They probably won’t notice an occasional link driving a few people.  However, bloggers who write for smaller blogs are much more likely to notice the traffic you direct.  Try weaving quotes, interesting analysis (or correct incorrect analysis), and tidbits that you find on their blogs into your own posts.

Respond to Comments…Sometimes
Now that you’ve created a blog, it’s actually time to talk with people.  The “with” part, however, is frequently ignored.  You’ve probably seen it a dozen times - an organization is eager to start a blog to start a “conversation.”  They write interesting stuff, get a few comments, and then completely ignore the people who actually showed interest.  The “conversation” becomes yet another one-way communications vehicle.  Readers feel ignored, get grumpy and things that should be responded to, don’t.  Now it’s true that eventually your readers will (hopefully) respond for you at some point.  But that point is far down the road, so you’ll need a strategy in the meantime.  What do you respond to?  How do you respond?  There are many questions to sort out.  Here’s a handy chart put together by the US Airforce of all places on Jeremy Owyang’s Web-Strategist blog.  You should also spend time reviewing and honing your editorial guidelines and community guidelines.

Be Active in the Space
Your blog is not alone in whatever space your non-profit operates, whether it’s health, environment, education, etc.  It is one of many blogs covering similar issues.  So get to know your fellow bloggers – comment on their blogs or respond to their posts on your blog. 

You may be tempted to do a few commenting no-no’s though, like just linking back to your own blog in a way that shows that you clearly didn’t read their post.  For example, “Hey, this is really interesting, I actually talk about this on my blog (www.my-org.org).”  It’s spammy and annoying to the blogger and other readers.  What you should do is dive in and respond in a way that is appropriate to your organization.  When and where appropriate, you can link back to your own blog.  Another commenting no-no is the “post and go” strategy.  You post a comment and feeling like your work is done, you never return.   Be prepared to respond to responses to your comment(s).  Your comment will appear spammy and your reputation on the blog will be marginalized before you even get started.  So, to put it in the words of Captain Pickard, “Engage.”

You’ll also want to match your comment frequency to the amount of comments already occurring on the site.  If a blogger you’re “courting” is only getting 2-3 comments per post, don’t respond to each of them just to show you are interested.  Respond only when you can really add something to the conversation.  And don’t forget that you are representing your company, so make sure that it is appropriate for your nonprofit.

So there it is – the four pillars of excellent blogging.  Feeling overwhelmed?  You're not alone.  Blogging is truly a serious undertaking which is precisely why most organizations need to take a hard look at whether they are prepared to start blogging before leaping into the blogosphere.   I would love any feedback on these pillars – do you agree disagree?  Anything you might add?

4 Pillars of Excellent Blogging: Pillar 3 Tone

Today you will learn about the third pillar of excellent blogging:  Tone.   If you’ve read my posts on pillars one and two of excellent blogging (consistency and content), you’re probably thinking to yourself right now, in just 3-5 minutes I will be three quarters of the way to becoming a total blogging ninja.  Yes, these are exciting times we live in and it’s a little known fact that learning and doing are instantaneous in the blogging world.  So let me get right to it.

As far as non-profits go, I have three primary rules when it comes to blogging:  Be human, be authentic, be something…just don’t be lame.

Be Human
First things first, a quick test:

• Do a quick check in the mirror and double check that you mostly pass as a member of the human race.  Check. 
• Next, find someone in your office and kick them in the shins.  They will probably yelp in pain.  Check. 
• Next give a co-worker a compliment (without being creepy or getting yourself fired).  They will probably smile.   Check.  
• Now send a friend a funny video you find on the web (if you are at work, make sure it’s nothing that will, again, get you fired).   They’ll probably laugh.  Check. 
• Finally, find a friend and read them the latest press release that came out of your organization.  Before you get half way through, double check to see if s/he has tuned out and started checking email, fallen asleep, or is about to kick you in the shins to get you to stop.  Check. 

This little social experiment was designed to prove that you and the people around you are humans with interests and emotions, who more often prefer to engage with other people than organizations and org-speak.    

So when you write your next blog post, try using the occasional adjective or exclamation point (just don’t get overzealous).  Include a picture of the person who is blogging.  Make sure the blog is written by a person, not “Organization X Communications.” Celebrate accomplishments, display empathy for members who are having a rough go, and show grit when things aren’t going your way.   Always remember that people prefer connecting with people, so it’s best to sound like a person.

Be Authentic
Nothing makes an organization’s legal (or executive) teams twitch like the concept of authenticity.   Before you even get the chance to explain the concept, the laundry list of worries and “red flags” come pouring out.  I’m not going to address them here, but at the end of the day, authenticity is about saying what you mean, being able to back up what you say, communicating a sense that you truly believe what you are saying, and not misleading people about your intentions.  In the blogging world, there is an enormous ethical debate over advertisers paying bloggers with significant readership to promote their products without disclosing that they are getting paid to do so.  Does that rub you the wrong way?  Probably.  And the reason it rubs you the wrong way is rooted in authenticity. 

Also remember that information is very easily accessible.  Savvy readers will validate what you are saying in real time and will absolutely call you out on what they perceive to be BS.  So don’t BS.

So what does this mean more practically?  Organizational bloggers should provide links to support claims that may seem counter intuitive.  Actually it’s best to back up as much as possible with links if you can.  Second, acknowledge your biases or world view.  Third, avoid overt spin of information.  Qualify or quantify what you are suggesting.  Here’s an example.

Too much spin
Joel:  It’s 3 pm.  It’s day time.
Spinner Jack:  No it’s night time.  
Joel:  You’re an idiot, I’m not going to talk to you any more

Authentic approach
Joel:  It's 3 pm, its day time.
Jack:  For you maybe, but it's nighttime here in London
Joel:  That’s deep, dude. 

This is a very simple example and I do recognize that authenticity is more complex from an organizational perspective.  However, you would be shocked at how ingrained spin is in our communications culture.  Authenticity is expected and demanded in the blogosphere, so it’s important that your organization finds a way to make it work its particular needs.

Be Something…just don’t be lame (at least as it relates to your target audience)
You want your blog to be memorable, so give it some personality.  If you can swing it, include more than one blogger so there are different personalities to give the blog some color, variation, and perspective.  The reason tone is its own pillar is because people will tune into a person as much as they will to the content, so it pays off to make the person engaging to your target audience.   Not every blogger needs to be a comedic genius.  In fact, funny is not a requirement at all, nor appropriate for some organizations.  The tone should be appropriate to your audience and the subject matter of the blog.  So before you start blogging, give some real thought to how you want your blog to be perceived and then find the tone to match it.

The Issue of Snark
Snarky bloggers are a dime a dozen on the web (is that saying even relevant anymore?).  Although snarky bloggers are frequently funny bloggers, proceed with caution when thinking about establishing a snarky tone.   Unlike independent bloggers, you actually have constituents, partnering organizations, and fundraising to worry about.  If snark is not part of your brand, this may not be the time to embrace it.  That doesn’t mean you need to be boring, not at all.  It just means that your bloggers may want to dial down the sarcasm volume or turn it off completely when writing their posts.   There are other ways to be engaging (ahem!).

4 Pillars of Excellent Blogging: Pillar 2 Content

Content is the second of four pillars of excellent blogging (the first is consistency).   “Content” is a broad term that encompasses many different things that a blog post may contain from videos to photos to actual words and sentences.  However,  it is far more useful to think about content as the following:

Subject matter of value to your audience that advances your organization’s mission.

Let’s break down the components (Hammer-style, if you want):

"SUBJECT MATTER"

Identify your blog’s purpose:  You should be able to articulate the purpose of your blog in a 1-2 sentences.  There must be editorial continuity to your blog so that people who read it know what to expect from post to post.  Of course, this does not mean that variation is verboten.  It just means that it needs to make sense for your organization and your audience.  For example, this blog is for non-profits seeking to improve their online operations.   Within that framework, individual posts may cover everything from using Facebook to writing blogs to online/email fundraising to using Google Adwords. 

Write Good English:  The sad truth is that you don’t need to be an English major to be a successful blogger.  I know quite a few grammar hounds out there that routinely cringe at what they see out there (and here, for that matter).   Blogs are typically written in a more familiar or conversational tone.  However, some bloggers confuse conversational writing with a free pass to skip the spell check button.   Although your organization’s blog will survive with the grammatical snafus, what you don’t want is for people to remember how poorly written it is.  It doesn’t need to be perfect, but make sure someone is spell checking and proofreading.  If you do find a mistake, don’t panic, even the best writers let some mistakes slip once you sprinkle a few deadlines into the mix.  The great thing about blogs is that you can always fix them on the fly.  Don’t bog yourself down in editorial review longer than absolutely necessary because you also need to be mindful of the first (and equally as important) pillar of excellent blogging – consistency.    The writing should be acceptable to your audience.  (If you are targeting educators, you may want to step up your grammar game a bit.)

Switch it up:  Variety is the spice of life, right?  A blog doesn’t need to be one person waxing poetic each day on the exact same thing.  Get a subject matter expert at your organization to post occasionally.  You could also get an advocate or service recipient if it’s appropriate on the blog.  Or maybe you post an occasional video that you found interesting.  As long as it fits in the editorial calendar and content guidelines, you’re golden.  You also have my permission to switch up the length of the post.  If it’s of value to your audience and contributes to your organization’s mission, the length of the post is irrelevant.

“OF VALUE TO YOUR AUDIENCE”   

Focus on your audience:  Your audience is the most important thing to remember when evaluating the type of content on your blog. It makes intuitive sense – if you don’t write something of interest to your target audience, they will lose interest quickly.  So will other bloggers who play a crucial role in the dissemination of content around the web (more on this in my upcoming post on Pillar 4).  This may seem obvious, but in practice many organizations have a hard time delivering engaging content.  So before anything gets posted to your blog, make sure you answer the question – will they care?  If you can’t answer yes, then it’s back to the drawing board.

Establish a unique value proposition for your audience:   One of the first questions you need to answer when developing your blog is “what makes this blog uniquely valuable to our target audience that they cannot find elsewhere?”   Your answer must be stapled to your bloggers’ foreheads and guarded fiercely or else your blog will just blend in to the cacophonous noise of the blogosphere.  “OnTrack” utilizes the Sierra Club's substantial hiking know-how to provide interesting content to people who love to hike.  In the political world, Huffington Post and DailyKos are obvious examples of finding a niche (albeit large niches) and routinely developing compelling content for their audiences.  Their web traffic corroborates this assertion.

Always answer the question “who cares?”:  I know I mentioned it already, I just wanted to re-emphasize it! 

“THAT ADVANCES YOUR ORGANIZATION'S MISSION”

Your Mission:  Your audience may be front and center when writing blog posts, but the subject matter must be anchored by the mission of your organization.  Sierra Club’s blog “On Track” is an excellent example a creative blog that speaks to an audience of people who love to hike while promoting a core Sierra Club objective of connecting people with parks and the outdoors.

Caution!  Don’t treat your blog like a press release or event notification system:   There are better tools to handle press releases and event notifications.  Posting them without any sort of narrative will undoubtedly turn off your audience.  Always stays focused on the audience and presenting the information that is interesting to them, NOT what is convenient to your organization.  Seriously, the quickest way to send people away from your blog is to post press releases – avoid the temptation.  Did I mention how serious I was?  It’s worth noting that it doesn’t mean that you can’t refer to events or press releases, but you should deliver them in an engaging way.

Stay tuned for next week’s post on Pillar 3:  Tone.

4 Pillars of Excellent Blogging: Pillar 1 Consistency

There are four pillars to successful blogging – Consistency, Content, Tone, and Community.  Each one is as important as the other.  Over the next few weeks, on this very blog, I will provide my take on the role of each of these in crafting an engaging blog.  Today, I’ll start with my personal nemesis…Consistency.

Consistent blogging is as important as the content you write about (and the tone you use and the community you write for).  It’s hard to believe, but it’s true.  First, a regularly updated blog gives something for other bloggers to pay attention to and comment on which is crucial for increasing the exposure to your site.  Other bloggers will not pay attention to a site if they do not perceive any commitment to keeping it up to date.  There are other sources that are updated regularly that can give them what they need.   And, as we will learn in "Pillar 4 - Community," your fellow bloggers will play an important part in driving traffic to your site.  Same goes for your intended audience.  Believe it or not, they aren’t sitting around waiting for your organization’s latest missive.  Crazy, I know.  If there isn’t regular communication of interest to them, they will forget about you and are less likely to check back in.  Regularly updated blogs are particularly helpful when it comes to SEO, creating content for other online activities (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.), and developing relationships with your supporters or service recipients.  An neglected blog doesn't do any of these things in the best case.  In the worst case, it may hurt your relationship with your users because you do not really seem interested or because spammers take over your comments wall.

Of course, no one starts a blog with the expectation that they’ll stop blogging after three weeks.  But statistics show that this is what happens in the vast vast number of blogs.  So only start, if ready to keep at it for the long haul.

The same is true if you are like me and many others and write a post sporadically every month or so.   (This is definitely a “do as I say, not as I do” scenario, by the way.) 
Here are some ways to ensure your blog gets the attention it deserves:

• Determine frequency of posts:  Whether it is daily, or 2-3 times a week, know exactly how many posts need to be posted each week and then work backward to sort out the staffing required (or staffing that is realistic).
  
• Create an editorial calendar:  Plan it out three months in advance – know what you are going to write about, when it’s going to get written, and (very important) who is going to write it.  Don’t miss those dates!
  
• Make time:  Blogging well takes time.  Make sure sufficient time is allocated to crafting the blog (including any research needed) and review.
  
• Commitment:  You or your blogger probably has competing duties.  If your organization wants to blog effectively, you need to commit to the process and the time it takes to keep the blog up to date.  This typically requires buy-in from the blogger’s direct supervisor.  In a previous job, one of our bloggers posted a picture on his desk that said a kitten would die for each hour he was late on this blog.  Now, no kittens actually died, but do what you need to do to get some motivation to get it done.
  
• Plan and mix:  Depending on the type of blog you have, you can probably mix “evergreen” posts with current-events posts.  Current-events posts are written about something happening now, whether it’s an organizational victory or a response to a news story.  The turnaround time for this type of blog is quick and typically goes up the day of the current event.  Evergreen posts are not specific to the current date.  These types of posts can be written in advance and don’t have the same time constraints.  Have a few evergreen posts in your pocket for a slow news week or a week when you get stuck working on other stuff – this will help you meet your schedule and take some of the pressure writing posts and getting approval in a short time period.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Summary: Eventually most organizations will blog. Before your organization starts blogging, make sure you're asking the right questions. Advanced planning will go a long way towards developing an effective blog.

"To blog!" you hear from your 20-something or tech-savvy staffers.  "Not to blog" you hear from your grizzled communications veterans and legal advisers.  "It's basically free to turn on a blog" the first group says.  "But what if people criticize our organization" the latter group responds. Who will win this epic battle?  Quite bluntly, your 20-somethings will.  Yet, despite this inevitable march to blogdom, now may not be the right time to start blogging.  Or maybe it is.  Here are a few questions you should be asking your staff to determine whether now is the right time to start blogging.  

1. Who will read our blog?
Everyone!  Hooray!  And then the money will come pouring in. Or not.  A better strategy is to keep the blog focused on a specific audience and try to avoid the temptation to speak to everyone all the time, whether it's your advocates, potential advocates, service recipients, friends & family members of service recipients, the public at large, members, donors, and your neighbors).  Pick your niche and nail it.  Then you can start to expand if it fits your objectives.

2. What's the objective of our blog?
Sorting this out is crucial.  Expect that your blog will have a soft ROI and may take months and even years before it builds the audience and following that can turn a post into dollars or advocacy actions.  That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, but manage your expectations.  Blogs can serve many different functions from serving your constituent base at a program level to providing insights on news and analysis on how current events impacts your constituents.  For an example of excellent blogging, visit the Sierra Club - they have several organizational blogs, each with a specific audience in mind and objectives.  Whether it's raising awareness about what individuals can do about climate change, encouraging people to get outdoors and go hiking, or getting the Club's position on the latest news and policy by Carl Pope, each blog has a clear purpose.

3.  Does our staff have time?  Will they have time two month from now?
Blogging is all about consistency.  Your organization should be prepared to write quality content once a day and no less than three times a week.  Reemphasize that it must be quality.  This is no small task.  Most personal blogs last three weeks before the posts stop because bloggers run out of content or can't keep up the daily regimen.  Blogging takes time, make sure the hours are available to make it happen.

4.  What does the editorial calendar look like?
Before the first blog gets written, your organization should create an editorial calendar.  From an executive perspective, this ensures that the right types of things are being talked about with the right frequency.  Every blog should have variation in content and a editorial calendar can help here as well.  I'd recommend planning out 3-4 weeks in advance to ensure that proper research is done, if needed.  If you have multiple bloggers, this helps provide firm deadlines.

5.  What is our editorial policy?
This is where you address potential trouble spots from trolls (i.e., people who argue for sake of arguing) to organization detractors to overly zealous (and potententially factually incorrect) supporters.  In your editorial policy, you will determine what your organization responds to and when.  It also establishes an escalation protocol depending upon the nature of the comments being made.  Resist the urge to over manage this process - not everything needs to be responded to.

6.  What are our community guidelines?
Having a clear, non-legalese page outlining how your organization expects people to behave on the blog is a very good idea.  What sort of comments and behavior is in bounds? What's out of bounds?  Be straight forward and make sure you can stick with it even when people are critical.

7.  How will people find our blog?
Meeting your objectives will be terribly slow if no one knows that your blog exists.  Make sure there is a plan in place to get people to your blog.  Furthermore, make sure that initially those people are the right people.  The right people are your supporters who will respond to critics so you don't have to all the time.  How do you do this?  Your house email list for starters.  Second, if your staff doesn't have a list of friendly (and not-so-friendly) blogs, now is the time to create that list and start paying attention to what those blogs have to say.  You'll want to create relationships with these bloggers over time.  Third, create a strategy for promoting your blog and set readership milestones.

8.  Are we prepared to relinquish a little control?
The last question you need to ask is whether your organization is ready to relinquish control.  If you effectively answered the rest of the questions above, chances are that your organization is ready.  You now have a plan for who you want to reach and how you are going to reach them.  You have a plan for dealing with critics, trolls, and overly zealous supporters.  It's now time to embrace the open web and engage the world in this format.