In this episode of Do This, Not That, host Jay Schwedelson interviews Zachary Galia, the Director of Social Media Content Strategy for the Pittsburgh Pirates. They discuss Zachary's career journey in social media, tips for breaking into the industry, and insights on managing social media for major sports teams.

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Best Moments:

(00:40) Introduction to the "My Path" series focusing on career journeys

(02:04) Zachary's path to his current role in social media

(09:01) What to look for when hiring for social media positions

(12:20) The importance of passion for the subject matter in social media roles

(15:17) The relationship between marketing and PR in social media

(17:23) Balancing personal life and professional expectations in sports

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Guest Bio:

Zachary Galia is the Director of Social Media Content Strategy for the Pittsburgh Pirates. With over a decade of experience in social media for major sports organizations, Zachary has worked with the Michigan International Speedway, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Arizona Cardinals before joining the Pirates. His expertise spans across various aspects of social media management, content creation, and digital strategy in the sports industry.

Zach's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharygalia/

Pittsburg Pirates: https://www.instagram.com/pittsburghpirates/?hl=en

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Foreign.

Welcome to do this, not that, the podcast for marketers.

You'll walk away from each episode with actionable tips you can test immediately.

You'll hear from the best minds in marketing who will share tactics, quick wins, and pitfalls to avoid.

Also, dig into life, pop culture, and the chaos that is our everyday.

I'm Jay Schwedelson.

Let's do this, not that.

We are back for do this, not that, presented by Marigold.

And this is our special series, My Path.

We're digging into people's career journeys that are doing really cool and fun and different things, and we got a great one today.

We got Zach Galia today, and he is the director of social media content strategy for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Come on, we are family.

I'm like Willie Stargell right now, but he's not only been doing this Pittsburgh Pirates, he was the actual first member.

Okay.

Of the Pittsburgh Steelers social media team.

He ran social at the Arizona Cardinals football club.

The guy knows social media.

We're excited to have him on here.

Zach, welcome to the show.

Happy to be here, man.

You're making.

You're hyping me up pretty good.

It feels pretty good.

Does everybody that work at the Pirates, like, walk around just singing we are family from, like, back in the day, or.

No.

I mean, there's probably a few people here that.

That were around back when that happened, but.

But yeah, it's.

It's.

It's a pretty good spot.

Yeah, I love it.

Love all of it.

So we want to dig into.

There's so many people out there that are listening that maybe they.

They want to get involved and have a career in social media.

And you're sitting there with this really cool title at this really cool brand, a brand that everybody knows.

Like, how do I get to be that guy?

How do I break in to do that?

So can you first, before we get into, like, your tips for breaking in, how did you.

How did you get on this path?

How did you wind up where you are today?

It's, It's.

Honestly, it's.

It's kind of an interesting journey.

Like, it was still something that people were figuring out and there were brands that were involved, but it wasn't like, here are the courses I'm going to take.

Here's the path I'm going to take to get to one day, you know, be in this seat.

So, I mean, you know, I went to college, Adrian College at small school in Michigan, and basically to play hockey and then figure out what life was after that.

You know, I'd always been very interested in sports, but also, like, the creative, artistic side.

And, you know, I painted, I wrote, you know, loved graphic design, loved video production.

So I wasn't sure how those two worlds were going to collide.

You know, when I first signed up for classes at school, it was.

I was going to be an architect and then realized how much books cost and supplies and bailed on that almost immediately.

And then I was just trying to figure it out.

And, you know, I had this awesome class about just kind of like the introduction to, like, mass communications.

And it was about, you know, radio and film, early, early film and, and just all the production and things that go into it and kind of fell in love with that and wrote it as far as I could.

So after college, thought I was going to go to film school until I realized, you know, it was going to be another $150,000 a year to do something like that.

So kind of decided, let's.

Let's think of something else.

So took a couple kind of random jobs, you know, worked at the college for a little bit, ended up coaching hockey for a little bit, and then was kind of presented with this opportunity at the.

At the speedway in Michigan to come in and do some creative stuff.

And, and, you know, I thought I was going in to manage their YouTube account and, and kind of lead their video production and that side of things.

And within a month in that role, my boss called me in and was like, you know, you're not really living up to expectations.

Which as someone who's been an overachiever, perfectionist my entire life, basically you know, crushed my soul to, to, to hear something like that.

But basically she was like, I thought you would take over all of our social media accounts by now.

Like, didn't even know that was part of the job.

Consider it done.

And so from that point on, it was.

I was calling, asking people who are doing this for a living, like, how do you do this?

How do you create content for a brand?

How do you put a calendar together?

Like, how do you achieve goals that are outside of what, you know?

And so, you know, there were so many great people who, you know, took my calls and were willing to jump on the phone and talk, and that really kind of started my journey.

And so it's Like I always say, I almost got into this industry by accident and then, know, 11 years into my career, it's.

I don't know what else I'd be doing.

So then, you know, two years with the Speedway and really learning everything I could.

And, you know, it's a small, scrappy team where I think there was four of us who probably could have been seven or eight different departments combined, but learned a lot about graphic design, about the strategy, about, you know, photography, about, you know, event coverage, you know, kind of creating something out of nothing, which is, you know, I will always, always credit that job with that because, I mean, we had, we had two races a year and then, you know, 364 other days or 363 other days where there was nothing happening.

And so, you know, got really good at creating something out of nothing.

And so two years there, learned all I could.

And somehow out of the thousands of applicants, they took a chance on me and I, again, I took the opportunity, I ran with it, I did all that I could to learn, you know, what it meant to manage a global brand now, you know, not a, you know, not one of however many NASCAR tracks there are in the country, but like a global, you know, you're wearing a Steeler hat in Brazil, you know what that logo is.

How do I, you know, take that pressure and take that responsibility and go with it and build what, you know, what digital should look like and social should look like there.

So, you know, four years working with a lot of great people and learned a ton and, you know, learned the ins and outs of work, working with the other departments that basically were confined into our team with the speedway and, you know, working with partners and working with, you know, ticket sales and working with the community aspect and everything in between and players and, you know, the football staff and really, you know, found my way and found my voice, found, you know, how I did things best and you know, anything from like developing a content calendar all the way through, like, how do I cover a game, how do we, you know, how do we do this, how do we do that?

So, you know, took a lot of time and spent four years there, really honing my craft and learning a lot and growing and then was able to take that next step and get the leader leadership position with the Cardinals.

And you know, I'd never been to Arizona before my interview and you know, I always, always Dreamed of living somewhere nice and warm, and this was that chance.

And, you know, luckily walked into a great, great opportunity with great people and again, learned a lot.

And, you know, you'll see that that's kind of the general theme of this journey is I worked with a lot of really good people who taught me a lot and with, you know, their experience and their feedback and really helped me on.

On my journey.

So, you know, spent three years there, took on different roles where I was a director of social, then I was director of all digital content, that I was director of digital strategy, and kind of took on a little bit more each time.

And then around the end of my third season, my daughter was born.

And so I'm from Pittsburgh, my wife's from outside of Toronto.

It's time to get back home.

And so luckily enough, this job with the Pirates, you know, hometown team, go work for the Buckos came up, you know, never looked back.

So it's, you know, it's great.

And it's still surreal to look out my window and see, you know, inside a PNC park and, you know, just experience the things that I get to experience every day is a.

Is a blessing.

And, you know, going back all the way to the beginning is just the people who just took my initial phone call when I was with the speedway and had no idea what I was doing.

Those are the people who helped me get to where I am today.

And it's definitely been a fun ride.

That's amazing.

I'm sorry that you couldn't stay in the warm weather, but I'm happy that you are now your family is all together.

That is a.

It's a really cool story that happened at, like, kind of like the birth almost of.

Of social media in a lot of ways.

So let me.

Let me ask you this.

If I'm out there and I'm listening this, I may say, you know, well, he hit it before social media was a thing.

I mean, the Steelers didn't even have a social media employee, so couldn't be that hard to get a social media job.

Now everybody thinks they're a social media expert, right?

And so what would you tell people today if they want to get into social media as a career?

What do you look for when you're hiring people for your team?

What is the thing to break in?

I mean, the one thing I always say is, like, is try and find your specialty.

You know, like, for me, it was.

I could do everything.

And back when I was getting into the industry, like you said, there was nobody so it was like, we need to find someone who can do these 19 things all at the same time.

Now it's like you said, everyone's kind of building out their team the way that they see fit, depending on what their goals are, you know, in the organization, the sport that, you know, you're in, you know, the brand that you work for.

It all kind of goes into that, that factor and that decision.

So for me, it's like, find what you love, find what you do best, and learn all that you can to perfect that craft.

You know, you may not be perfect for every social media job that's out there, but the one that you are perfect for, you're going to be extra perfect for.

So it's like, you know, if video is, is the way you want to go, like, dig into it, perfect that craft, spend your time, spend, you know, whatever is it, 10,000 hours to, to really dig into and learn that, you know, fronts and backs of, of what you need to be done, like what needs to be done in that position and take the steps that you need to, to get there.

You know, I always tell everyone, you know, anyone that I've worked with is like, if you're looking for your next job, just make sure it's on the path to where you want to go.

You know, you don't want to veer too far, higher, low, back and forth.

It doesn't have to be necessarily linear, but make sure that it's kind of on that trajectory of this will help me build my resume in X, Y and Z way so that it's something you're always going to learn something new, no matter what it is, but at least it'll kind of get you closer to where you're trying to go.

So, I mean, like, for me, when I'm hiring, it's hard to say there's a blanket statement of what I'm looking for because different roles require different things.

You know, maybe I have a great team in place that can handle copywriting, can handle the strategy, can handle video production.

I need a graphic designer or someone who has that background.

I need someone who is very deep and ingrained into the analytical side and understands how to kind of monitor and gauge when things are doing well, when they're not, when to, you know, increase, when to decrease, and that side of things.

So, you know, the, the best piece of advice I can give is, you know, one, find.

Find what you love, because that's the thing you're going to give the most effort for.

But also, like, the one thing I Can't teach.

No matter who I would bring in, I can't teach you to.

To want to do this job.

Like, I can't teach you to be motivated.

I can't teach you to, you know, have that drive to just think of new ideas and always want to push the limits and never be satisfied.

So that it's a mindset thing.

You know, it's.

Those are the people that I look for is, you know, maybe they're not as skilled or experienced in certain things, but I can teach them that if they want it bad enough.

So it's.

It's very much like the soft skills are, you know, as important, if not a little bit more important than those hard skills in some instances.

I think it's super valuable when you're sharing that to kind of double down in a thing like go all in on video if that's your thing or whatnot.

Because to just spread yourself thin across the board, it's really hard to stand out.

It's hard to be known for anything.

Right.

So I'm curious, though, whether it's sports because, you know, you're with the Pirates, or let's say it was, you know, health and beauty, some other big brand, whatever.

Do you need to be passionate about the topic?

Like, if you bring somebody on and they, they're like, I don't really love sports, but I'm really good at social media or whatever.

Or do you see somebody, oh, they played college base ball, they're perfect for us because they get it.

How important is it, whatever the category is, to be immersed in that category when you're going for that career?

Yeah, I mean, I think you have to be.

I think again, I think it goes back to, you have to love what you do.

And so if you're so dedicated to your craft, you know, a great example would be, you know, my job in NASCAR was never a NASCAR fan, still to this day would not even pretend to be a NASCAR fan.

I don't think I watched a single thing that had to do with NASCAR the day I was done working there.

But it was my opportunity and I was going to learn everything I could.

I was going to dive into this head first and really go for it.

And so that role worked really well because I was marketing to people like me, you know, casual people who.

Or sports fans, but didn't really know about nascar.

How do we make NASCAR exciting for me?

And so it was like, when I was creating content, it was very personal and it was very easy for me to say, oh, well, I think this is cool.

So like that's who we're trying to market to.

I think when it gets more difficult is me being 38 years old, I need to make a TikTok video that 15 year old kids like and want to follow the Pirates.

Like that's the, the, the language gap almost in.

Okay, well, how do I do that?

Well, I have great young people on my staff who understand this stuff even better than I do and we can kind of work through from both of our angles as to how we achieve that goal.

So I mean, I don't think you have to necessarily eat, live and breathe whatever it is that you are representing, but you have to be willing to go that route and really, you know, dive into it as much as you can.

And you know, like I said, I'd never been to Arizona before I went for my interview.

Didn't know anything about the Cardinals except for Larry Fitzgerald played there and the Steelers beat them in Super Bowl 43.

I think it was.

And like.

And that was it.

And like.

But once I got there and I was in it, I'm with these players and I'm with this team and I'm building these strategies.

It's like, like that's my favorite football team now is the Arizona Cardinals because of the three years I spent there and, and just the relationships you have there and the people you meet and just the, you know, the roots you put down it, it means the world.

So it's like, I think it's, you know, the starting point, I don't think is as important as the end point where you may not be a fan when you walk in or you may not know everything you need to know about, you know, whatever the topic is, but by the time you get to the end, it's going to make a big impact on your life.

All right, so if coach Mike Tomlin, the coach of the Steelers is listening, we're very sorry.

Zach will reconsider his fandom.

Don't worry.

I have, I have a super random question.

Just.

I'm just curious about the world of social media these days.

So to me, social media has got two halves.

You got the marketing side and you got the PR side because crazy stuff happens and then the PR side of social media is take over and issue statements and be careful about what you post.

So I'm just curious, in your world, does that all fall under one umbrella?

Kind of the crisis communications, I guess you call it, versus the marketing or does like the PR side take over when something's going on that has to Happen.

I always describe it as like, social is kind of right in the middle of the spider web of everything else that's happening.

So whether it's, you know, like I said, if it's some crisis or a, you know, a player signing or a trade or, you know, a funny video or we're selling tickets or we're covering this community event, it all ends up like we are the publication funnel of all of this news.

So it's like, that's something that we keep in mind when we're building a strategy, is where things go and how they're packaged.

And, you know, certain topics end up in certain places, and different news and different communications end up in different places.

But at the end of the day, it's.

It's collaboration across the board.

Like, I'm.

I'm working with, you know, every team that we have in this building basically on a daily basis to make sure that, like, we are not necessarily just achieving the goals of the social media department, we're achieving the goals of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

And so I don't have a firm grasp on every single thing that every department is trying to do.

So that's where they come in, and that's where I'm reaching out to them for their support and their knowledge and their understanding and really digging into how we can help.

You know, we are.

We are probably the largest touch point that we have, and in most cases, it's probably across the board in, you know, different brands.

But, like, we're the biggest touch point directly to our fan base.

So we need to make sure that, you know, we're not taking that responsibility lightly, and we're doing all that we can to do right by every organ or every department within the organization.

Yeah, that's.

That's a heavy responsibility.

I never really even thought of it that way.

Another heavy responsibility.

All right, last thing I want to ask you.

So as your kids get older, do you feel like if they're not the best baseball and softball players in the universe, that you have failed?

Does everybody in the community think that you're a giant loser if your kids aren't the absolute best at baseball and softball, given the access that you have to the greatest talent in the world?

Oh, man, I hope not.

That's a lot of pressure.

But, no, I mean, like, my wife and I both played hockey all the way through college.

I played baseball up until, like, my sophomore year of college.

But.

So we have high hopes for our athletic children.

But at the same time, I mean, if they, you know, they want to Play an instrument or dance or in drama or whatever they want to do.

Like, I'd be, you know, a thousand percent down and thankful.

Yeah, that's true.

My kids, they're now 17, 18.

When they were little, I played baseball.

I wanted to play baseball.

They had a visceral reaction to it.

They went to basketball, football, which I was thrilled about.

But it's always the thing that you know best that you want them to do is they will do the opposite.

That is what I learned.

So, of course, that's our daughter.

She.

She has all the different dresses to dress up like the Disney princesses, and we put music on and she loves to dance and she loves to sing.

And it's like, well, but we have our hockey net over here.

Do you want to play hockey?

And sometimes.

Of course.

But, you know, it's whatever makes her smile, whatever makes her happy.

Like, that's all that matters.

That's good, man.

Well, I appreciate you being here.

Everybody follow Zach.

Galia, how do I say it and spell it?

I don't tell everybody.

You got it, you got it.

Apparently, my last name's impossible, so there you go.

And you'll find them on LinkedIn.

We're gonna put everything in the show notes.

Zach, I really appreciate you being here and hope the Pirates have a great next season.

Thank you, man.

It was an honor to be here and I can't thank you enough.

All right, man.

Take care.

You did it.

You made it to the end.

Nice.

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