When else can you push aside your workload and stop fretting about customers and pending deadlines to muse about stuff you find cool or controversial? After all, you have management’s blessing.

So what topic tickles your fancy today? One of the company’s philanthropic causes, some viral video an associate recently shared with you, a local interest story like your sister’s band gig at the corner pub, or how about conveying your opinion on something topical? After all, you have a point of view to share.

Unfortunately, there’s the rub and relevance. Too many corporate bloggers are be missing the point completely. Content is critical. Not only from a brand reputation and brand marketing strategy perspective, but because blogs are the SEO strategy that targets the organic side of the search engine results page. Blog content is top dog in Google’s search algorithm and a core part of your digital marketing strategies.

And since people who read corporate blogs tend to skew toward first-time visitors by an 80 percent margin, there’s a greater opportunity to secure new leads and convert them into new customers.

That’s why you need to establish social media guidelines, especially around blogging so posts improve your search rankings, generate inquiries and work within strategic brand management plan. Get your associates to blog with a purpose, as do we. For example, this blog contains the right balance of keywords and phrases to improve the SEO for our Web site. Whether you read it or not, or become a follower, posting blogs are helping to get us on page one. And monthly analytics provided by the Compendium blogware allow us and our clients to recalibrate and add new search terms to the mix.