Social Media Manager

William Reed Ltd; Gatwick; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave

Long service holiday

Christmas office closure

Holiday purchase scheme

MeDay

Volunteering day

Hybrid and agile working

Enhanced pension contributions

Life assurance

Group Income Protection

Family-friendly policies

Health and wellbeing support

Commitment to Equity, Diversity and IN

Cycle to Work scheme

Electric Car scheme

Job summary

William Reed Ltd is seeking a Social Media Manager to shape the social presence of flagship UK events, including The UK Food & Drink Shows and The London Coffee Festival. You will drive engaging content, paid campaigns and data-led decisions to grow communities, awareness and registrations.

Based in Brighton, you will work with marketing, commercial and cross-functional teams to deliver consistent, creative content across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok, while mentoring junior

Qualifications

• Experience managing social media for events or consumer brands.
• Strong knowledge of LinkedIn, Meta and TikTok for organic/paid campaigns.
• Ability to create content strategies and calendars to drive growth.
• Adept at turning performance data into actionable insights.
• Excellent stakeholder management and cross-team collaboration.
• Willingness to travel to events across the UK.

Responsibilities

• Develop social media strategies across multiple event brands.
• Manage paid media campaigns and optimize KPIs within budget.
• Test, monitor spend, and optimize creatives and targeting.
• Create brand-specific content series from concept to edit.
• Own content planning for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok.
• Create content calendars balancing campaigns, engagement and live coverage.
• Plan and optimise paid social campaigns and budget allocation.
• Monitor performance using insights to improve ROI and conversions.
• Collaborate with exhibitors, partners and internal teams on content.
• Coach and mentor junior team members.

Skills

Social Media Management

Organic Social

Paid Social

Content Strategy

Content Calendars

Data Analytics

Stakeholder Management

Mentoring Juniors

Creative Thinking

Brand Representation

Job description

Department: General Marketing & Social Media

Location: Brighton

Description

As a Social Media Manager, you'll play a key role in shaping the social presence of some of the UK's leading events, including The UK Food & Drink Shows and The London Coffee Festival. Through engaging content, paid social advertising, audience insight and data-led decision making, you'll grow communities, strengthen brand awareness and drive registrations, ticket sales and engagement across our event portfolio. Working closely with marketing, commercial and wider cross-functional teams, you'll help elevate our social media activity, ensuring content is consistent, creative and delivers measurable results across both organic and paid channels.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Developing and evolving social media strategies that support brand, visitor, exhibitor and commercial objectives across multiple event brands
• Manage and implement paid media campaigns and ensure that they are fully optimised to achieve KPIs within an agreed budget
• Conduct ongoing testing and closely monitor all spend management, creative and targeting whilst evaluating all accounts.
• Creating and producing brand-specific content series, managing the process from concept development through filming and final edit
• Owning content planning and delivery across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and TikTok, ensuring a consistent and engaging presence across all channels
• Creating and managing content calendars that balance campaign activity, community engagement, partner content and live event coverage
• Planning, managing and optimising paid social campaigns, including audience targeting, budget allocation, creative testing and performance optimisation
• Monitoring campaign performance and audience behaviour, using insights and analytics to improve engagement, reach, ROI and conversion
• Collaborating with internal teams, exhibitors, sponsors and partners to create compelling content and maximise campaign impact
• Coaching and mentoring junior team members, sharing social media expertise and helping to raise the quality and consistency of content delivery

What You’ll Need

• Expertise in social media management, gained within events, hospitality, food and drink, media, publishing or another fast-paced consumer-facing environment
• A strong understanding of organic and paid social media, including LinkedIn, Meta and TikTok, with experience managing audience targeting, campaign optimisation and A/B testing
• Experience creating content strategies and content calendars that drive audience growth, engagement and commercial outcomes
• Confidence analysing performance data and turning insights into clear recommendations that improve future activity
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work effectively across teams and build strong relationships with partners and external stakeholders
• The ability to coach and guide more junior colleagues, sharing knowledge and helping to build social media capability across the team
• A creative, proactive approach and a passion for staying ahead of social media trends, platform developments and audience behaviour
• Willingness to attend and represent our brands at events across the UK, including occasional travel as required

Benefits & Initiatives

• Generous annual leave –25 days plus standard England and Wales bank holidays for full-time employees
• Long service holiday reward – Receive an extra day's annual leave for each year of service after six years, up to a maximum of 30 days plus bank holidays for full-time colleagues
• Christmas office closure – Enjoy additional paid leave between Christmas Day and New Year's Day to cover discretionary office closure days
• Holiday purchase scheme – Buy up to three additional days' annual leave each year and spread the cost over up to six months
• MeDay – Take an additional paid day off to celebrate your birthday, a cultural or religious event, or another occasion that is meaningful to you
• Volunteering day – One paid day each year to support a charity, community group or cause close to your heart
• Hybrid and agile working – Flexible ways of working to help you balance work and life commitments (role dependent)
• Enhanced pension contributions – Benefit from employer pension contributions above the statutory minimum
• Life assurance – Providing financial protection and peace of mind for you and your loved ones
• Group Income Protection – Financial support if you're unable to work due to long-term illness or injury
• Family-friendly policies – Enhanced pay entitlements to support you and your family during important life events
• Health and wellbeing support, including:
  • Healthcare cash plan
  • Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
  • Virtual GP service
  • Health and wellbeing resources and tools
• Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Supported by employee-led networks, with a culture where everyone feels welcome and valued. We are proud to be Disability Confident Committed employer
• Cycle to Work scheme – Save money and support a healthier commute
• Electric Car scheme – Access an affordable and sustainable way to drive an electric vehicle