How do you get a 95-year-old building millions of social followers?
In this episode of Radical Content, I sat down with Tyler O'Day, former Social Media Manager at the Empire State Building and current Director of Communications for the Manhattan Borough President's Office, to unpack how he built one of the most recognizable brand voices on the internet and why the same playbook works whether you're selling observation deck tickets or informing New Yorkers about their government.
We talked about giving the Empire State Building a personality, the lessons he carried over from four years at Barstool Sports, and why he's now using the same social strategy to make city government content actually shareable. If you're building a brand, growing a social team, or trying to make "boring" institutional content people actually want to watch, this conversation is loaded with real, tactical takeaways.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
🏙️ How to give a brand (even a 95-year-old building) a distinct, ownable personality
🏙️ Why real-time cultural moments beat expensive planned campaigns
🏙️ How to build and empower an on-camera content creator team without becoming the face yourself
🏙️ Why Facebook still delivers massive organic reach for the right audience
🏙️ How social media strategy translates from Barstool Sports to city government
🏙️ Career advice for social professionals trying to move from "social media manager" to strategist
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Episode #53