In this week's Insights Lab, Michelle Goodwin, Account Supervisor on the PR & Social Media team, discusses the changing definition of social commerce. She shares the key drivers behind the evolving social commerce landscape, trends and what to keep a look out for in the future. Tweet us @AMP_Agency to let us know what topics you want to hear about!

If you missed The Psychology of Social presentation at WordCamp Boston this past weekend, or if you are interested in learning more about why consumers use social media and how that usage can impact your content strategy, here are a few key takeaways from my presentation. Consumers choose to build social media profiles, connect and form attachments with people and brands to fulfill mental and emotional needs like creating a sense of belonging, gaining respect or esteem, and establishing their identity. Once a consumer determines a need to make a connection, they evaluate each connect to determine if that relationship is needed for survival and what value they can derive from the relationship. Consumers form relationships for 'feel good'? reasons like sharing common experiences or utilitarian reasons like getting access to coupons or discounts. Consumer types like emotional or rational decision makers and skeptics use different combinations of content to build relationships or inform purchases. By understanding your audiences' needs based on consumer types, you can develop targeted content that will ultimately be the key to making connections with your audience and creating attachment with your brand. Be mindful of how your audience interacts with social media and what technologies they may use to consume media. Leverage social web technologies, optimize content for mobile devices, and use social integration to help consumers find, read and share your content or purchase your product from anywhere. Q&A As part of the presentation, several questions were asked that introduced two crucial elements to building a content strategy and forming long-term attachments with consumers. 1) Before you create a page on every social network you can think of, take some time to evaluate where your audience is talking about your brand or industry and what networks your target audience uses most frequently to connect and share. Even doing informal research will help in building an audience map so you can prioritize your time and resource allocation. 2) Once you've created your social media profiles and start to grow your communities, don't get caught up in simply listening to conversations. To truly build attachments with your audience, your brand must work to create an authentic relationship by developing a genuine brand personality and by participating in conversations as much as you are listening to them. Now that you have some insight into the allure of social media for consumers, it's time to get to work doing research, developing a content strategy, and create content that will help you build strong relationships with your community. If you would like more detail on The Psychology of Social, view the presentation below. WordCamp Boston: The Psychology of Social Media from AMP Agency Download the complete white paper here.

There's been lots of buzz recently around social, interest and brand graphs. In this week's Insights Lab episode, Michelle Goodwin, Account Executive on our PR & Social team, explains the difference between the graphs and what these graphs mean for brand marketers. This video is no longer available   Tweet us @AMP_Agency to let us know what topics you want to hear about!

Recently, The New York Times made waves as it became the first newspaper to enforce a paywall, limiting access to content on the paper's website. While it seems the famous newspaper has, at least temporarily, stopped the hemorrhaging of free content via its digital format,  the enforcement of the paywall left some scratching their head, or looking for the best hack. For those still trying to catch up with the paywall concept, the New York Times has created subscription levels for a variety of users. Those who pay for a hard copy of the Times receive free unlimited access to all content on the companion website, those who choose not to subscribe to the hard copy are given the option of paying a subscription fee for access to content available on NYTimes.com, and still others are allowed free, but limited, access to content found via search engines. Finally, users who access NYTimes.com content via links produced through social sharing or integration (Facebook/Twitter shares or 'like'? button clicks) are given free, unlimited access to content as long as the origin of the click through to NYTimes.com is from Facebook or Twitter. While on its face this seemingly benign preference for users referred via social sharing/integration might not seem meaningful, the reward of free content for social media users can have huge implications for readers, competing newspapers, and yes, even marketers.  So why is the New York Times so eager to give social media all the love? Here are some ideas: Connecting with Who You Want to Reach on Their Own Turf is Important Back in 2007, the New York Times reported on its own potential demise when publishing information from a Harvard study citing an underwhelming 16% of young adults aged 18 ' 30 actually read the newspaper. Though social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were just beginning to build their active users, the newspaper in its print form was already struggling to connect with younger audiences. Today, social media is an inherent part of a young person's life. It seems obvious, in an effort to secure longevity by reaching younger and younger audiences, incentivizing readership and sharing by offering free content would be the way to go. Many have attached the ominous 'for now'?¦'? when describing the Times choice for allowing free access through social links, but to address the potential for what I (and I'm sure others) like to call the '$5 Footlong Phenomenon'? would require a completely different blog post. Let's move on to something a little bit more'?¦ innovative. The Value of a Facebook Like or Twitter Share > $1.25 for a Daily Paper This sounds crazy, right? Just hear me out. Marketers have done some stretching to assign a dollar value to a Facebook user or like in the hopes of turning social media ROI into a finite science. While there is debate as to the validity of a general value placed on a brand's Facebook fan, the New York Times may have unearthed something big by seemingly declaring the value of a social share is worth more than a subscription fee to access digital content. This is a radical change for a company whose health is measured by the amount of subscription and advertising dollars coming through the door. But, in a world where consumer decisions are swayed more by peer recommendation than advertising, and opinions held by a network of friends are more influential than a panel of experts, The New York Times has taken the first step toward leading an industry-wide change of opinion. The progression of the New York Times paywall will be an interesting one. The world is already wagging its collective finger at Rupert Murdoch's facepalm as NYTimes.com site traffic declined by nearly two-thirds after paywall implementation. But, nonetheless, whether the concept of a paywall spreads to other dailies, brings marketers and brands one step closer to determining the value of a social share, or backfires completely, it certainly will be a fascinating story to follow.