Social Media Strategist

The Social Media Strategist is a full-time position, responsible to inspire Northwestern constituents to engage with the university’s programs and offerings through various social media channels, supporting institutional marketing efforts with key day-to-day tactics from a B2C perspective.

• Develop and Execute Social Media Strategy: Create and implement data-informed social media strategies that align with the university’s marketing and enrollment goals, ensuring brand consistency across all platforms.
• Content Planning and Creation: Collaborate with creative and digital teams to plan, produce, and publish high-quality, engaging content tailored to each platform and audience.
• Community Engagement and Reputation Management: Manage university-owned social media accounts, fostering active engagement through timely responses, conversations, and proactive community building with students, alumni, and external audiences.
• Performance Monitoring and Reporting: Track key metrics (e.g., engagement, reach, conversions), analyze campaign performance, and regularly present insights and recommendations to optimize social media impact.
• Advertising and Campaign Management: Manage paid social campaigns, including budget oversight, A/B testing, and performance tracking to support awareness, lead generation, and enrollment initiatives.
• Trend Monitoring and Platform Innovation: Stay current on higher education and industry trends, platform updates, and emerging tools to inform strategy and recommend new approaches for audience engagement.
• Brand Oversight and Social Media Governance: Audit and guide department-level accounts to ensure brand alignment, compliance with university standards, and strategic consistency.
• Student Staff Supervision and Development: Hire, mentor, and manage student workers to support content creation, engagement, and other social media initiatives.

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Continually nurture a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; serve as a consistent witness for Jesus Christ; maintain a kind, Christ-like attitude in dealing with and ministering to people within and outside of Northwestern; and faithfully uphold and embrace Northwestern’s mission, doctrinal statement, and Declaration of Christian Community.

Nice To Have (Optional):

• Degree in marketing, digital media, communication, or journalism
• Experience with an integrated marketing team and/or higher education
• Meta Social Media Professional Certificate
• HubSpot Academy Social Media Marketing Certification
• Hootsuite Social Media Marketing Certification

• Interpersonal Communication: Ability to interact professionally and respectfully with individuals from varied backgrounds and experiences.
• Written & Verbal Communication: Strong writing, editing, proofreading, and verbal communication skills.
• Organizational Skills: Strong time management and problem-solving abilities; able to prioritize and meet deadlines with attention to detail.
• Social Media Management: A strong knowledge and capability to manage all types of social media channels including, but not limited to, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, ZeeMee, Spotify, and YouTube.
• Social Media Tools: Working knowledge of Sprout Social or a similar social media management tool.
• Professional Writing: Knowledge and demonstrated skill in creative, journalistic, content marketing and/or business writing including writing for web, print, and other media.
• Microsoft Office Proficiency: Intermediate skill with Microsoft Office, especially Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
• Willingness to Learn Tools: Willing to learn Microsoft SharePoint and Adobe Creative Cloud.
• Flexibility: Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends as needed and travel occasionally for work-related activities as needed.
• Background Check: Must pass initial and ongoing background checks as a condition of employment.

• Traditional health benefits (including medical, dental & vision)
• 403(b) Plan + Employer Match
• Tuition Benefits
• Paid Time Off
• A team committed to an Unwavering future