Over the last two years, one of my digital marketing clients in the skin care industry has made a concerted effort to expand her customer base using Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. Over time, and through quality posts illustrating the advantages of her products, her social media reach had dramatically expanded and grown into loyal skin care clients.

Last I week I pulled up her business Facebook page and panicked. Why? Without warning, she had started posting her personal blog on all her social business pages. And while her blog on “Daily Adventures with a Yorkie” was incredibly entertaining, it completely diluted her business brand.

All social media marketing has one simple goal: drive sales by engaging both new and current customers.

As consumers, we are are inundated by Facebook posts, Tweets, and Google+ posts from not only our friends, but also the companies we follow. As a business, compelling content is only really worthwhile if it drives sales. What is the point of tweeting about your latest product if it gets lost in all the “digital noise” and thus overlooked?

Don’t get me wrong; I think a small business owner can greatly benefit by connecting with customers through personal stories and antidotes. But this is much better achieved via a blog on the company website, where the consumer has made a choice to engage in additional content that is not correlated to the business brand.

Here are five criteria that any social media marketing post should meet:

1. Does it reinforce your brand?
2. Will it create a new customer or lead?
3. Will it retain your current customer?
4. Will it create customers who are passionate about your brand?
5. If you could only publish one post to sell your product, would this be it?

These days it is increasingly difficult to attract attention to your brand. Following these five steps could make the task much easier.