Sure, your association can boast about having thousands of dues-paying (or non-dues-paying) members, but what do you really know about them? Do you know how to make their needs your top priority?

The importance of member relations, and more, in today’s Social Media Roundup:

Four Areas of Focus

Four Questions Guaranteed to Get the Focus Back On Your Members http://t.co/snacxnQ9j7 via @MemberClicks #csae #assnchat

— Meagan Rockett (@rockettm) March 12, 2014

Member mentality: When sending out emails and planning large-scale events, it’s easy to forget that your members are real people, not data points. If association leaders become unaware of the demographics of their membership, their background stories, and where they’re from, they’ll find themselves out of touch. Over on the MemberClicks blog, Sarah Hill briefly outlines four questions association professionals should ask themselves about their member relationships. Leaders should know what their members consider important, along with how they’d critique your association. (And they should know this without having to do a survey or poll.) It could take a little digging, but that’s how you can build stronger member relationships. (ht @rockettm)

More Than Just a Pretty Face

5 brand elements for associations http://t.co/BOeZzdXB2O featured in @socialfish and @MemberClicks by @SmoothThePath #AssnChat #ASAE

— Amanda Lea Kaiser (@AmandaLeaKaiser) March 11, 2014

In branding, the look matters, but as Amanda Kaiser explains on her Smooth the Path blog, there is much more to take into account when reviving your association’s brand image—including your product, your promise, your voice, and your story. Together, they offer a holistic perspective on what your association truly represents. Kaiser suggests that a brand promise is a key differentiator that should appeal to the senses. “The reason for brand promise is to create a feeling,” she writes. When you do that, your association can exude its own original, infectious vibe. (ht @SmoothThePath)