My company, GasPedal, recently hosted BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media in Minneapolis. The fantastic event featured eight case studies on corporate social media from some of the world’s biggest companies. As we gear up for our next BlogWell in Atlanta on Nov. 10 — featuring case studies from Coca-Cola, UPS, SunGard, Orange Business Services, ConAgra Foods, Turner Broadcasting System, Newell Rubbermaid and The Home Depot — I’m sharing some of my favorite lessons from Minneapolis.
Here are a few great ideas from Heather Oldani, senior director of communications and Steve Wilson, senior director of global web communications for McDonald’s, on how McDonald’s is using social media at all levels of the organization:
- It’s not a department that owns social media, it’s the consumer. Rather than having one team “own” social media, lots of departments collaborate on it at McDonald’s, including creative, customer satisfaction, legal, and brand content.
- Fostering existing communities is key. Heather explained how one of the hardest things for McDonald’s to learn was that the adage, “If you build it, they will come” isn’t necessarily true.
- Some of the biggest opportunities in social media are internal. McDonald’s Mindshare community helps owner-operators share ideas with one another. One of Steve’s favorite examples was how an owner in Italy used it to share a simple way to remove fingerprint stains from doors and windows with other McDonald’s owners around the world.
See the live presentation here:
Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin
RSS
How do you effectively apply social media to niche markets? You are talking about social media in massive brands, so it would be good to see how it can help smaller companies.
[...] SmartBlog On Social Media » Andy’s Answers: How McDonald’s is using social media at local, regi… smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/10/01/andys-answers-how-mcdonalds-is-using-social-media-at-local-regional-and-global-scales – view page – cached Andy’s Answers: How McDonald’s is using social media at local, regional, and global scales — From the page [...]
[...] SmartBlog On Social Media » Andy’s Answers: How McDonald’s is using social media at local, regi… smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/10/01/andys-answers-how-mcdonalds-is-using-social-media-at-local-regional-and-global-scales – view page – cached Andy’s Answers: How McDonald’s is using social media at local, regional, and global scales — From the page [...]
So why does McDonalds only have 500 Twitter Followers!
mc d may have less followers ! But judging a twitter page by the number of followers is plain stupid! what we need to see is the value being provided to its existing followers!
[...] a blog yesterday posted on SmartBlog On Social Media titled Andy’s Answers: How McDonald’s is using social media at local, regional, and global scales one of the key lessons learned was (and I quote), “some of the biggest opportunities in [...]
In my opinion, the biggest lesson learned from McDonald’s, and is no surprise to me, is the value that Social Media can provide to enhance internal communications.
I have seen companies as small as 15 people have major communication struggles. The concepts of sharing information and the systems that Web 2.0 / Social Media have provided need to be leveraged to enhance this capability.
[...] SmartBlog On Social Media » Andy’s Answers: How McDonald’s is using social media at local, regi… sounds advice via @derekeb (tags: social media community communications branding howto) [...]
[...] discovery this morning: a case study about McDonald’s involvement in social media, together with video. Full of interesting insights that come as a confirmation of LIVErtising basic [...]
I think that the fact that McDonalds is even offering some form of a social platform goes to show how forward thinking they are. They companies that will survive are the ones who are able to change with the times.
My recent post Security Issues on Social Network Websites