eMarketer reports that McKinsey & Company recently polled people about the benefits gained from using various Digital Marketing practices and associated Web 2.0 tools, both internally and externally.
The study found that several technologies were a benefit for enhancing relationships among employees -- as well as with customers and external partners.
When it came to customer-related benefits, blogs were the most useful tool, bringing measurable benefits to 51 percent of responding companies worldwide. That was followed by video-sharing and social networking, at 48 percent each, and RSS feeds, at 45 percent.
Technologies such as wikis, podcasts, ratings and tags were less useful, but still benefited customer relationships for about one-quarter to one-third of companies worldwide.
More than one-half of respondents (52 percent) said Web 2.0 tools increased marketing effectiveness, while 43 percent reported higher customer satisfaction and 38 percent reduced marketing costs.
Businesses in the high-tech or telecommunications industry were most likely to report customer-related benefits of Web 2.0, at 65 percent, followed by business/legal/professional services firms, at 60 percent.
Companies cannot simply adopt these technologies and expect their customers to use them, however.
Among firms reporting measurable benefits from Web 2.0, 74 percent said it was important to integrate the tools with other forms of customer interaction, and 52 percent said marketing the Web 2.0 initiatives themselves was a best practice.