Communications and Social Media Manager full-time

DUTIES:

As a senior member of the Marketing and Communications (MarCom) team, the Communications and Social Media Manager will build and lead the institution’s strategic communications plan, primarily in the digital space.

This position requires a professional who will lead and inspire a team of content specialists and writers in developing well-crafted, strategic content for a diverse set of audiences - internal and external, through earned media, owned channels and through paid media.

Communicating digitally, on social media, through email and via mobile is a first language for you, and coaching others to adapt one message to many audiences and platforms is second nature.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Design and implement a strategic content plan for paid, earned and owned media, including TRU’s social media platforms, Newsroom, and other digital communication channels.
2. Evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of communications plans and adjust as needed.
3. Monitor social media for conversations or issues that could be harmful to brand reputation.
4. Develop and maintain student recruitment communications to nurture conversion from interest to application to registration.
5. Lead conversations around new advertising campaign concepts and the writing that supports them.
6. Lead media and public relations writing and strategies.
7. Hire, train, evaluate, and manage staff.
8. Coach team members to craft content and copy that aligns with business objectives.
9. Be an active member of the departmental Leadership Team, collaborating with and learning from fellow MarCom practitioners.
10. Serve as member of various institutional web and marketing committees.
11. Provide strategic counsel and leadership to pan-institutional department leaders to advance and align their communications strategies.
12. Stay informed and bring forward viable new ideas to support the continuous improvement of TRU communications.

REPORTS TO
Director of Brand and Marketing

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in appropriate specialization such as PR, advertising, communications or marketing.
• Five to eight years of experience in team management in an agency, marketing department, personal business, or in-house institutional department.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities Related to the Job:

• Exceptional communication skills, communications planning, writing and editing skills.
• Expertise in paid media: writing advertising copy, conducting a/b testing, planning and reporting.
• Strong understanding of lead nurturing strategies and what, how and when to communicate to potential students.
• Strong business acumen, project management, interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Solid understanding of earned media relations techniques as part of a communication strategy,
• Team leader – ability to foster continuous improvement in quality of individual direct reports’ writing, productivity and institutional knowledge.
• Team player – collaborative and contributing member of a departmental leadership team.
• Detail oriented – an eagle-eyed proofreader who can coach the team towards ensuring message accuracy and consistency across channels.
• Ability to work against tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment keeping a keen eye on detail and accuracy.
• Ability to work on multiple initiatives and projects simultaneously.
• Ability to lead across departments to ensure projects are properly prioritized and executed by other groups.
• Must be a self-starter, highly motivated, able to “turn on a dime”, think through problems to come up with innovative solutions.
• Technical experience should include:
  • Writing for the web, using keywords, hyperlinks, navigation and brevity, to meet the needs of visitors using mobile devices.
  • Ability to balance creative needs with metric driven actions.
  • Excellent web navigation and web research skills.
  • Ability to identify risks and opportunities in user generated content.
  • Ability to use search engine optimization and keywords to improve the volume and quality of web traffic, both paid and organic.
  • Ability to work in a Macintosh and Windows environment; proficient with Microsoft Office products and familiarity with HTML.