Always careful about its brand messaging, McDonald's has been slow to enter the Twitter-sphere. Unlike other brands that got onto the social media site early, McDonald's took its time.
The company will officially launch its @McDonalds Twitter site Monday, but the site has been gathering followers already as the company quietly prepares for its debut.
The launch will not be the company's first social media effort, however. It got some practice interacting with consumers with the Twitter site @McCafeYourDay, launched to promote the new espresso-based coffee line in the United States. The brand also has a Facebook fan page, but unlike other brands, it does not allow fans to post comments or photos directly to the wall. Fans do get invites to comment to specific questions and can read other fans' posts.
Blogger Andy Sernovitz said on his Ask Andy blog that the McDonald's social media policy is a good example of how to incorporate social media throughout the entire organization. McDonald's communications staff, Heather Oldani, senior director of communications and Steve Wilson, senior director of global Web communications, shared several tips, including:
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.
