Companies such as Starbucks have found success with mobile apps that let customers pay with their smartphones. How could your association benefit from a similar approach?

That, and more, in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Scan now, drop the card: More than 10 percent of Starbucks’ revenue in its previous fiscal year came via mobile payments. The company says the payments help in a number of ways. For instance, customers can pay faster—no more hunting around for change. Also, mobile payments also allow Starbucks to collect individual purchase data, which it uses to better serve customers.  “Starbucks was one of the first firms to embrace the app culture,” writes Addy Dugdale for Fast Company, “and its iOS app works both ways, feeding data back to the firm while bringing both special deals and a faster cup of pre-work morning joe to customers.” Has your association adopted mobile payments?

Change the conversation: Times change. So do your members. That’s why Anna Caraveli, managing partner at Demand-Driven CEO Network, says associations should look at the data, keep a watchful eye on trends, and decide when it’s time to change the conversation. “Getting to know customers is no different than understanding other human beings,” writes Caraveli for SocialFish. “It takes changing your conversation and building relationships over time rather than taking snapshots of their responses to your programs at one moment in time.” How has your association changed the conversation with its members?

Be more personal: Social media has proven it can be a powerful, cost-effective tool for nonprofits to engage their audiences, but only when used effectively, writes Melissa Raimondi, content producer for Network Good. Ramondi passes along a lesson she learned from Peter Panepento, assistant managing editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, during the recent Social Media for Nonprofits conference. “Social media is the perfect tool for PR, but only when the emphasis is on personal. Nonprofits should put a human face on everything and use social media to humanize your organization,” she writes for Nonprofit Marketing Blog. Don’t miss Raimondi’s three rules for humanizing your nonprofit’s social media activity.

What’s on your reading list today? Let us know in the comments.

(photo by LJR.MIKE/Flickr)