Social Media Manager

Puzzle Media; Gold Coast City; On-site; AUD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Puzzle Media on the Gold Coast is seeking a Social Media Manager who thinks in Reels before captions. You’ll run day-to-day social for a mix of client brands, craft content for Puzzle Media’s channels and bring a solid understanding of Meta Ads and how paid and organic social work together.

This hands-on role involves on-location shoots, directing with photographers and videographers, plus creating content yourself.

Qualifications

• 2+ years running social media accounts, agency-side or managing multiple brands.
• Portfolio of content you’ve personally shot and edited (client work, personal brand or freelance).
• Proven track record of growing engaged social media accounts; able to show reach and engagement growth.
• Deep familiarity with Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
• Strong short-form storytelling skills.
• Comfortable editing in CapCut or similar.

Responsibilities

• Shoot and edit short-form video for client brands on iPhone, on location and on the day.
• Build content for the platform it’s on, not repurposed for the grid.
• Own the social strategy and content calendar for a portfolio of client accounts.
• Develop content pillars, themes, campaigns and ideas based on audience and objectives.
• Report on performance and translate data into planning for what’s next.
• Schedule and publish content across relevant platforms.
• Stay across platform changes, trends and best practices.
• Contribute to Puzzle Media’s own content on the side.
• Manage day-to-day client relationships and deadlines.

Skills

Social media management

Portfolio of content

Audience growth

Instagram/TikTok/Facebook

Short-form storytelling

CapCut editing

Meta Ads familiarity

Data-driven decisions

Client management

Idea pitching

Tools

CapCut

Job description

We're after a Social Media Manager who thinks in Reels before they think in captions.

You’ll run day-to-day social for a mix of client brands (this is the bulk of the role), help shape content for Puzzle Media’s own channels and have a solid understanding of Meta Ads and how paid and organic social work together.

Ideally, we’re looking for someone who lives and breathes socials and is across the latest trends and how to execute these for businesses across socials. We want you across the formats, the pacing, the sounds and then digging into why one piece of content works better than another.

You should also understand that great social isn’t just about likes and followers. You need to understand how content contributes to reach, engagement, leads, bookings, sales and ultimately business growth.

What the team really needs is someone who lives in that world and brings ideas, not just polish.

This is a hands‑on role, so sometimes you’ll be on location with clients, photographers and videographers directing, and other times you’ll be shooting some of the content yourself. You don’t need years of production experience, we’re looking for an eye for what works and the speed to capture it.

The role will be split across hands‑on content creation, strategy, planning, client management and supporting Meta Ads activity.

What You’ll Actually Be Doing

Content Creation

• Shoot and edit short‑form video for client brands on your iPhone, on location and on the day
• Build content that’s created for the platform it’s on, not repurposed and hoped for the best
• Know the difference between content that performs and content that just looks good on a grid
• Keep across trends, sounds and formats early enough to actually use them before they’re stale
• Develop content ideas that are aligned to the client’s brand, audience and commercial goals
• Work with photographers, videographers and clients to get the right content captured
• Repurpose strong‑performing content into different formats and placements

Social Strategy & Management

• Own the social strategy and content calendar for a portfolio of client accounts
• Develop content pillars, themes, campaigns and ideas based on the client’s audience and objectives
• Report on performance and translate the numbers into planning for what’s next, rather than a screenshot of Instagram Insights
• Identify what’s working, what’s not and what needs to change
• Manage the day-to-day relationship on your accounts. You’re the person who knows what’s happening on that brand’s socials better than anyone
• Schedule and publish content across relevant platforms
• Stay across platform changes, new features, trends and best practice
• Contribute to Puzzle Media’s own content on the side

Meta Ads

• Understand the fundamentals of Meta Ads
• Help identify organic content that has potential to be tested or amplified through paid advertising
• Assist with setting up, monitoring and optimising Meta campaigns under the direction of the senior team
• Review basic campaign performance and understand metrics.
• Help develop and test different hooks, creative, messaging and offers for paid campaigns
• Understand how creative performance impacts Meta campaign results
• Make recommendations based on data rather than simply reporting numbers

You don’t need to be a Meta Ads expert. We’re looking for someone genuinely interested in paid social and who wants to understand how to turn good content into measurable business results.

What You Bring

• 2+ years running social media accounts, ideally agency‑side or managing multiple brands
• A portfolio of content you’ve personally shot and edited (client work, personal brand or freelance) and/or accounts you have managed recently.
• A proven track record of growing engaged social media accounts. You should be able to show us accounts you’ve worked on, what you changed, what grew and why you think it worked. We’re less interested in vanity follower numbers than evidence that you know how to build reach, engagement and an audience that actually cares.
• Deep familiarity with Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. You understand how people consume content differently across each platform and what currently works organically on each.
• Strong short‑form storytelling skills. You can take an ordinary business, product or service and find the hook, story or angle that makes someone want to watch.
• Genuinely handy with an iPhone. You know how to shoot something that looks intentional, not just in focus
• Comfortable editing in CapCut or similar so you can turn raw footage into a finished Reel yourself
• Genuine platform fluency so that you could explain why a trend is working, not just that it exists
• A good understanding of what makes content stop the scroll
• Comfortable looking at data and using it to make decisions
• Comfortable owning client relationships and communicating decisions, not just executing tasks
• Some hands‑on experience with Meta Ads Manager and an understanding of the fundamentals
• Commercially minded. You understand that our clients ultimately want customers, bookings, enquiries and sales, not just pretty social media
• Someone who pitches ideas unprompted, because you can’t help it
• Organised and able to manage multiple clients, deadlines and priorities without needing to be chased

Bonus Points

• Experience managing Meta Ads campaigns
• Experience with lead generation campaigns
• Experience with TikTok Ads or other paid social platforms
• Photography or videography as a hobby or side hustle
• Experience working with service‑based or small business clients
• An understanding of how social media fits into a broader marketing funnel
• Experience using reporting or analytics platforms

The Person We’re Looking For

We’re not looking for someone who just ticks off a content calendar.

We’re looking for someone who gets social.

Someone who sees a Reel and immediately thinks, "That would work for this client."

Someone who can sit in a client’s business for an hour and walk away with 20 content ideas.

Someone who looks at an ad and wants to know why it worked.

Someone who sees the numbers and asks what we should do differently next month.

And someone who understands that great social media sits somewhere between creativity, strategy and commercial results.

If you’re creative, commercially minded, curious about Meta Ads and genuinely obsessed with social media, we’d love to hear from you.