Our guest today is Greg Galant. He is one of the minds behind the Shorty Awards, which is a highly popular digital awards ceremony that showcases groundbreaking short-form digital and social media content across all major platforms.

Key Links for Greg

• Website for Shorty Awards
• 
  
• Greg’s LinkedIn page
• 
  
• Muck Rack website
• 
  
• Facebook News Feed Eradicator 
• 
  
• The book that Greg recommends: High Output Management by Andrew Grove

----

In this episode, Greg shares how the origins and early days of Twitter and other early platforms necessitated the rise of the Shorty Awards and his career in the field.

Greg talks about a wide array of topics including how powerful a work-from-home office dynamic can be, the importance of actively listening to customers and fans, the most effective initiatives for social good, influencer marketing, ways to stay productive despite constant social media bombardment, and much more.

----

In This Episode:

• The origin story of the Shorty Awards and Muck Rack.
• 
  
• The largest shifts in social media according to Greg.
• 
  
• How social good has taken over social media in popularity.
• 
  
• How to properly approach social good as a brand.
• 
  
• The unique workplace culture of Greg’s companies.
• 
  
• The benefits of a work-from-home company.
• 
  
• On influencer-driven marketing: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
• 
  
• Tools that Greg uses to minimize time wasted on social media and increased productivity.

Key Takeaways From This Episode of the Damn Good Brands Podcast

• Greg thinks that one of the largest changes in social media since he first started in the field is just the sheer amount of platforms that are out there now. Sure, social media is still volatile, and platforms fold, but the digital infrastructure is much vaster.
• 
  
• When talking about the exciting things that brands are doing differently now on social media, Greg says that user-generated content is much more prevalent. This means that many brands are actively listening to customers or fans and creating a bottom-up experience instead of the isolated and contrived top-down dynamic of years prior.
• 
  
• The best campaigns for social good come from a deep understanding of whatever initiative for social good is being showcased. Many companies build strong social good campaigns by actively listening to the community it serves and addressing any disconnect between conception and execution of any drive for social good.
• 
  
• Influencers are the new athletes for marketing products. Just like Michael Jordan used to drive Nike shoe sales, so too influencers are marketing products in a similar way using their social media clout instead.
• 
  
• Many businesses need to remind themselves that their work with influencers needs to incorporate the unique personality and creativity of the...