Your company has decided to launch a blog. You could have a whole slew of different reasons for launching a blog, but the end-goal is to use it as a way to engage your customers in conversations.

There are key steps to take in launching a blog, and not of it is really rocket science:

• Set objectives
• Identify your target audience
• Select author(s) who are committed to blogging regularly
• Ensure you have an executive to champion the effort
• Select a blogging platform and social widgets
• Create an awareness strategy
• Create a blog (and/or social media) policy

That last step may make you hesitate for a second. How do you write a policy that ensures your authors can easily follow the corporate guidelines stated therein without tamping their creative freedom or ability to respond to issues, news, reader questions/comments in a timely fashion?

According to Sharlyn Lauby at Mashable.com, there are two schools of thought for creating a social media policy: you can let it evolve organically over time or you can establish a clear policy from the outset (maybe even it publish it on the blog for anyone to read).

No matter which approach you take, a blog policy helps you to set expectations for what your blog and blog authors will and will not do, and how you will handle certain situations as they arise.

If your blog is part of a larger social media initiative that involves Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., then you should consider writing a social media policy that sets expectations for how your organization will use these different social networks to engage with your target audience.

Sharlyn writes some good advice on what to include in a social media policy. Her advice is also mirrored in a similar guideline created by Mack Collier of www.theviralgarden.com. I’ve mashed their guidelines together to create the following:

1) Establish the purpose of the blog policy – this makes sense. Your authors and, should you decide to make the policy public, your readers should understand why the policy has been created.

2) Establish the purpose of the blog - if you’ve taken the time to go through the steps outlined above for a launching a blog (which by the way, also apply to any social media initiative), then you should be able to incorporate your blog objectives here.

3) Respect copyright – always acknowledge the sources for your content!

4) Be authentic – to build trust with your audience you (the author) need to openly identify who you are so your audience knows who they’re engaging with. Building trust also entails that your authors respond promptly to reader comments and emails.

5) Don’t be inflammatory – your corporate blog is not the place to write heated, inflammatory or insulting posts about your competitors, other bloggers, your customers, etc. Always show respect for the opinions of others, even if you “respectfully disagree”. Do consider creating and sharing a commenting policy that outlines to your audience how your organization responds to comments and that clearly states profane or insulting comments will not be tolerated.

6) Protect confidential and proprietary information – this one is a no-brainer. Don’t discuss financial, performance or confidential information ever, unless you’ve been given express permission from executive management.

7) Respect your audience – this point relates to point #5, but it also means respecting your audience’s time by writing about topics that will interest them. Respecting your audience also means asking permission before writing about a customer or client or business partner.

8) Create value - Part of building dialogue with your target audience requires that you provide value. Your posts should invite dialogue! Also look for opportunities to interact with your community. If members of your target audience blog, engage them via their own blogs by leaving a comment or responding to one of their posts with a post of your own.

9) Be consistent – blogging is a commitment! This role should be incorporated as part of your authors’ business roles within the organization. That means committing to at least one post per week (ideally three if your authors can swing it).

10) Handle negative situations professionally - Respond quickly and appropriately to developing stories or crises, and do admit to your mistakes. Also, don’t alter previous posts without identifying that you’ve made a modification to the content.

One final note: Whether you decide to let your blog policy evolve organically or decide to create a policy right from the outset, it does make sense to review the policy over time. Just as your business goals may change or evolve from year to year, so too will your blogging (and social media) goals. It’s important to evaluate your policy to ensure it remains relevant.