Nick Wakeman, editor of Washington Technology Magazine, last week posted his list of 13 trends and predictions driving the government contracting market. He sees smaller growth; fewer big, new opportunities; increased competition; and higher pressure on profitability, among other things.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article

Hide Sites

Join us in supporting the 3rd annual Power IT Down Day, sponsored by Citrix, Intel, HP and GTSI, and join the community of government and industry IT users that are going green. All you have to do is pledge to turn off your computers and peripherals at the end of the day on Friday, August 27, 2010.

Please take a moment now to visit the Power IT Down website, www.powerITdown.org, and sign up.

Each person who does will save approximately 13 kilowatt hours in a single evening and 55 kilowatt hours over the weekend. And, to illustrate how we can all put energy savings to good use, the Power IT Down sponsors will make a generous donation to the Wounded Warrior Project again this year.

Thank you! We look forward to saving with you.

Share this article

Hide Sites

In last month’s issue of Research IT, we shared some insights about adoption trends and policies revealed in our recently released 2010 Federal Community Social Media Study. This quantitative online study on the perceptions and use of social media in the federal market combines the findings of two surveys – one targeting federal employees and one targeting federal contractors.

As we pointed out in the June article, federal agencies’ fairly slow adoption to date of social media hasn’t stopped the contractor community from embracing the tools as another means of branding and marketing to their government prospects and customers.

In fact, 55% of contractors use social media either formally or informally to communicate with their government audiences – primarily to share sales and marketing materials, event information, and press releases. And, 39% of contractors who do not currently use social media expect to start in the next 12 months. Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article

Hide Sites

We want to thank Andy Rudin, who originally wrote this blog post and posted it on the blog, Customer Think. Check out Andy’s blog, The Contrary Domino, for more insights on sales and best practices.

The administration is still wiping egg off its face after the social-media fueled Shirley Sherrod debacle. Bureaucrats demonstrated they’re human—whipped into a frenzy by unsubstantiated information to achieve a malevolent goal. But despite the government’s textbook missteps, there is growing sophistication in the government about social media, and more agencies are adopting the tools—something many Federal employees might not know.

Those were insights that John Kagia, Research Manager at Market Connections, Inc. shared this week at a conference I attended, Social Media in the Federal Community. Kagia’s 2010 survey of 321 Federal employees revealed that 23% didn’t know if their organization or agency used online social media. But when asked about the expected agency use of online social media in the next 12 to 18 months, two-thirds of respondents predicted an increase. The top social media tools agencies reported using today are non-government specific social networks (26%), Wikis (23%), content aggregators (22%), and online video (21%). Further down the list were agency blogs, podcasts, and monitoring/commenting on blogs. The top open-source social network for government? Hint: It’s not Facebook. LinkedIn was the top choice. Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article

Hide Sites

Market Connections recently conducted a quantitative online study on the perceptions and use of social media in the federal market. The 2010 Federal Community Social Media Study combines the findings of two surveys – one targeting federal employees and one targeting federal contractors. In upcoming issues of Research IT, we’ll highlight some of the fascinating results, including tools, policies, and reporting structures that contractors are adopting to effectively embrace social media.

In fact, contractors are significantly increasing their use of social media as a means of connecting with targeted prospects in the federal government, with 55% of respondents using social media either formally or informally to communicate with their government audiences. Conversely, only 29% of federal employees surveyed work in agencies that use social media. Of those, 66% began doing so less than 12 months ago and they’re using social media primarily to communicate with constituents and citizens.

It’s important to note that we conducted both surveys before the September 2009 release of the Administration’s new guidelines for secure use of social media by federal departments and agencies as well as the Department of Defense’s (DoD) December 2009 release of its Responsible and Effective Use of Internet-Based Capabilities report. As a result, our study serves as a benchmark of social media use prior to the release of these policies. Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article

Hide Sites

From New York and Rome to Manila and Cape Town, Market Connections has conducted many focus groups on-site at user and association member conferences to help clients explore new product or service concepts, potential marketing strategies, organizational priorities, and more. Indeed, conferences often represent a highly cost effective opportunity for conducting focus groups when companies are in need of qualitative insights from a geographically dispersed target audience.

With prospects and customers convened in a central location, conducting research at such conferences reduces normal recruitment, facility rental, and transportation costs typically associated with a focus group program. However, to keep costs down and also maximize the success of the on-site focus group, we always advise clients up-front that it’s important they commit internal resources to support some of the planning and execution. Read the rest of this entry »

Share this article

Hide Sites

A Federal Computer Week article covering Market Connections’ popular social media event on July 27, 2010 highlighted that while 60 percent of respondents to the study of social media usage among federal employees have embraced social media, the rest either don’t use it or don’t know about it.

The article by Alice Lipowicz said, ”[T]hose results suggest that agencies are taking advantage of social media primarily for promotion and communications with the public, rather than applying those tools internally with their staffs. Consequently, many employees may not be aware of what their agencies are doing in this sphere.”

Read the full article on www.fcw.com.

The Federal Community Social Media Report takes a comprehensive look at the use of social media among federal agencies and suppliers and includes detailed case studies of how agencies use social media to connect with citizens and expand their audiences.

Share this article

Hide Sites

On July 27, 2010, Market Connections presented the findings of the 2010 Federal Community Social Media Study to a standing-room-only crowd at the Tower Club in Vienna, VA. Of the findings, Alice Lipowicz of Washington Technology wrote, “Federal contractors have jumped into social media in a big way, but many are finding it difficult to calculate a return on their investment, according to a new survey of 167 federal contractor employees by the research firm Market Connections Inc.

“The most popular social media tools among federal contractors are wikis, followed by commercial social networks, followed by blogs.

“LinkedIn was cited among the most popular social media sites for federal contractors…”

View the full article on www.washingtontechnology.com.

The full Federal Community Social Media Report takes a comprehensive look at the use of social media among federal agencies and suppliers, including analysis of the use of a variety of social media tools and planned investments in social media.

Share this article

Hide Sites

This morning, we confirmed three panelists who will join us at the July 27 event releasing the findings of the 2010 Federal Community Social Media Study. You may be wondering how this event will differ from many other social media events in and around DC right now. Market Connections will present the results of a research study looking at social media usage among government employees and contractors. You’ll leave with real data to help guide your strategic decision-making!

Confirmed Panelists:

Michael Donovan – Chief Technologist, Strategic Capabilities, HP Enterprise Services
Donovan is responsible for leveraging HP and partner capabilities to meet the needs of federal, state and local governments. He is currently involved in development of cyber security, cloud computing, and information management to better serve the needs of U.S. Public Sector clients.

 Bev Godwin – Director, Center for New Media and Citizen Engagement, Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, GSA
Godwin is establishing a Center on New Media and Citizen Engagement in the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at GSA.  She recently returned to GSA after a 6-month detail to the White House Office of New Media. Prior to these posts, Godwin served as director of USA.gov and Web Best Practices for GSA and Deputy Director of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government.
Follow Bev @govnewmedia and @BevUSA.

Doug Mashkuri – Director of Business Development, GovLoop and President and Founder, Mash Digital Strategies LLC. As a member of the GovLoop team, Mashkuri works closely with government contractors to create social media marketing programs that focus on best practices, contextual marketing, and provide the GovLoop government community with timely, relevant product and services information.

Get event details and register

Share this article

Hide Sites