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:

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