VP COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING (UA-VPCM-IUINA)
Department Information
University Communications and Marketing provides strategic leadership to protect, advance, and elevate the university’s brand and reputation in Indiana and around the world. We create guiding resources for and collaborate with communications and marketing partners across all IU campuses, schools, departments, and centers.
The Office of the Vice President for Communications and Marketing seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Indiana, to maintain the excellence of the University and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives and ways of knowing and learning.
The Director of Social Media works within the Office of the Vice President for Communications and Marketing to elevate a global brand, establishing standards of best practice across higher education. The position helps to manage a talented team of content managers and specialists and works in partnership with a wide array of cross-campus communicators, experts, and faculty.
Job Summary
Indiana University is seeking a Director of Social Media to lead the strategic vision and oversight of the IU social media portfolio, including IU, IUB, IUPUI, and regional campus collaboration, ensuring all content supports the mission, vision and values of Indiana University, elevates their status as a tier one university (state and nation-wide), deepens constituent engagement, and fosters brand loyalty. Working in close collaboration with campus communicators and other leaders across the university, this position reports to the Assistant Vice President of Strategic Communications and will have a high-level of visibility within the organization.
As Director of Social Media, you are keenly aware of the power of social media to shape conversation and mitigate brand risk. You are an experienced content creator, community manager, avid adopter of online trends, and a strong advocate of innovation and impact. You are passionate about building communities, fostering collaboration, driving engagement, adopting trends, and exploring new discoveries (Chat GPT).
Department-Specific Responsibilities
Strategy and Execution
- Develops and implements comprehensive social media strategies, policies and best practices to unify brand representation and messaging, increase awareness, elevate institutional priorities and expand reach
- Leads daily content planning strategy for IU central social media accounts, optimizing performance, measuring impact, and ensuring alignment with university goals
- Identifes opportunities to facilitate meaningful connection, engaging target demographics in association with campaigns and priorities
- Coordinates social campaigns in collaboration with peer leaders to drive consumer awareness, cultivates ambassador activation and encourages brand loyalty.
- Creates and maintains daily, monthly, and annual strategic social media calendars.
- Ensures all visual and written content meets the highest quality expectations, reviewing grammar, punctuation, branding, messaging, etc.
- Works in collaboration with the leaders of communications and marketing to plan owned/earned social media placement.
- Creates compelling in-person experiences where new and current constituents can experience the brand at key events and share organically through their own channels.
- Actively manages the monitoring of online sentiment and conversation across social channels in integration with Issues Management leadership.
Reporting and Analytics
- Utilizes data and insights to set strategic direction for centralized social efforts and ensure alignment with executive leadership on the team’s strategic priorities.
- Analyzes social media metrics and provide executive-level reporting on a regular basis.
- Processes and gleans insights from data to drive a deep understanding of target audiences.
Team Leadership and Collaboration
- Acts as a go-to resource for staff and colleagues across our organization.
- Consults with campus partners to prioritize efforts and help manage department workflow in a fast-paced environment where responsiveness, collaboration, and innovation are highly valued.
- Manages activities of a team of social media managers, specialists, and student workers, providing guidance to mid-level social media leaders.
- Manages high level assignments and allocation of team resources, including negotiating and coordinating initiatives that involve staff in other units.
- Creates standards and practices to use creative resources for maximum efficiency, ensuring that the team can work in a way that is flexible and responsive while deeply aligned to strategic outcomes.
- Oversees team deliverables that contribute to elevating brand awareness and reach.
- Works closely with key internal teams including, but not limited to, Communications, Marketing, Insights, Analytics, CRM, Web, and UX.
- Partners with brand, communications, and creative teams to provide strategic planning for large, cross functional projects.
- Leads the Social Media Community of Practice across the entire university system.
- Leads proactive, visible outreach to promote IU’s social strategy to the wider IU MarComm community through ongoing engagement including coaching, training, and the development of IU’s social media tool kit.
Thought Leadership
- Identifes trends across higher education, industry in the US and internationally to develop and source new opportunities for channel growth.
- Researches and stay up-to-date on new industry standards, trends, and technologies responsible for the implementation of new protocols/procedures to address business needs.
- Serves as a subject matter expert on social media strategy, consulting with internal and external teams on the best way to achieve their objectives while building a strong, resonant, and unified brand, advising on brand strategy decisions for initiatives across the university.
- Represents the university at conferences and develop thought leadership ideas to help team members do the same.
General Responsibilities
- Manages the day-to-day, general, and long-term operations for managers of teams of social media staff within a department or functional area, including assigning and reviewing social media projects for various marketing and communications needs, audiences, and media platforms.
- Provides strategic vision for social media activities and establishes short-term business plans and long-term operational objectives to achieve that vision.
- Performs industry research to learn about industry trends, coaches social media staff on effective social media engagement, including processes related to conducting market research to identify social media sites preferred by target audiences, engaging types of posts, and peak engagement posting times. Incorporates industry knowledge into policies and practices.
- Manages staff, makes hiring decisions, provides coaching, training, and mentoring, manages performance, and determines staffing needs.
- Regularly consults with staff, faculty, colleagues, departments, and/or other stakeholders to identify needs and curate social media content to specific programs, goals, audiences, and objectives.
- Determines timelines and plans for social media communications and ensures alignment with university mission, strategies, objectives, and brand guidelines.
- Creates and manages the budget for social media activities, projects, and programs; reports operational and strategic outcomes to university leadership.
- Provides guidance to lower-level Social Media Leaders.
Qualifications
EDUCATION
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in English, communications, journalism, public relations, or related field
WORK EXPERIENCE
Required
- 5 years in relevant field
- 3 years of management experience in relevant field
Preferred
- 7 years of combined social media, content creation, digital strategy, and writing experience
- 3 years of applying management skills at an expert level
- 5 years managing online communities with over 50,000 followers
Combinations of related education and experience may be considered
SKILLS
Required
- Proficient communication skills
- Maintains a high degree of professionalism
- Demonstrates time management and priority setting skills
- Demonstrates a high commitment to quality
- Excellent organizational skills
- Excellent collaboration and team building skills
- Effectively coaches and delivers constructive feedback
- Instills commitment to organizational goals
- Demonstrates excellent judgment and decision making skills
- Effective conflict management skills
- Builds and manages effective teams
- Effective leadership skills
- Ability to represent the company with external constituents
- Ability to drive multiple projects to successful completion
Preferred
- Experience in managing robust online communities, engaging with diverse stakeholders, and triaging emerging crises
- Detailed project management mindset to ensure deliverables are on time and of high quality
- Ability to solve complex problems; ability to identify needs, help to define solutions to those needs, and work to move the organization towards executing those solutions
- Demonstrates savvy and superior communication skills to navigate a complex organization and generate buy-in for ideas and initiatives
- Ability to keep a strategic mindset; willing to champion syncing up brand strategy, reputation management, content, and user experience to be delivered through our social channels
- Ability to balance multiple competing priorities at both the strategic and tactical level
- A consummate collaborator
- A thinker and a doer with ability to use strategic thinking to solve problems and hands-on execution to turn those solutions into realities
- Knowledge of communications channels; publications, web, and multimedia with an understanding of online/social media strategy and savviness with platforms
- Demonstrated expertise in copywriting
- Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects; experience with Illustrator and Audition
- Understanding of the full marketing mix across owned and earned channels
- Ability to develop scalable systems and processes at a variety of experience/skill levels
- Ability to work adeptly in a constantly-evolving digital environment
- Comfortable working within a matrix organization with shared resource teams
- Experience in issues monitoring and social monitoring platform
- Experience building and leading sophisticated systems and teams
Working Conditions / Demands
This role requires the ability to effectively communicate and to operate a computer and other standard office productivity equipment. The position involves sedentary work as well as periods of time moving around an office environment and the campus. The person in this role must be able to perform the essential functions with or without an accommodation.
On-campus work in Bloomington and Indianapolis is required, including evening and weekend work when necessary.
Work Location
Bloomington, Indiana or Indianapolis, Indiana
This position is eligible for remote work or to work a hybrid schedule (mix between remote and in-person work), subject to change in the future based on university policy and business needs.
Advertised Salary
$90,000 – $100,000 annually, based on experience
Benefits Overview
For full-time staff employees, Indiana University offers a wide array of benefits including:
- Multiple plan options for medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Health Savings Account with generous IU contribution
- Life insurance, LTD, and AD&D options
- Base retirement plan contribution from IU, subject to vesting
- Additional supplemental retirement plan options
- Tuition benefit for IU classes
- 10 paid holidays per year
- Generous Paid Time Off
- Paid Parental Leave
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Learn more about our benefits by reviewing our online Benefits Brochure .
Job Classification
Career Level: Strategic
FLSA: Exempt
Job Function: Marketing & Communications
Job Family: Social Media
Click here to learn more about Indiana University’s Job Framework.
Posting Disclaimer
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there may be differences in the working conditions as advertised in our standard job postings (e.g., the ability to travel from one campus to another, etc.). If you are invited for an interview, please discuss your questions or concerns regarding the working conditions at that time.
This posting is scheduled to close at 11:59 pm EST on the advertised Close Date. This posting may be closed at any time at the discretion of the University, but will remain open for a minimum of 5 business days. To guarantee full consideration, please submit your application within 5 business days of the Posted Date.
If you wish to include a cover letter, you may include it with your resume when uploading attachments.
New employees will be provided with information regarding Indiana University’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, which includes the opportunity to request an exemption. To learn more, view our COVID-19 vaccine information page .
Equal Employment Opportunity
Indiana University is an equal employment and affirmative action employer and a provider of ADA services. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment based on individual qualifications. Indiana University prohibits discrimination based on age, ethnicity, color, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status. Indiana University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its educational programs and activities, including employment and admission, as required by Title IX. Questions or complaints regarding Title IX may be referred to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights or the university Title IX Coordinator. See Indiana University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination here which includes contact information .
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The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, containing policy statements, crime and fire statistics for all Indiana University campuses, is available online . You may also request a physical copy by emailing IU Public Safety at iups@iu.edu or by visiting IUPD.
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