Associate Director, Social Media Management

University of Utah; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 80,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Utah is seeking an Associate Director of Social Media Management to lead enterprise social media strategy, oversee a team, and drive analytics-driven improvements in content and campaigns.

The role reports to the Senior Director of Brand Strategy and collaborates across marketing, web, media relations, and campus units to elevate the University's national reputation.

Qualifications

• Requires a bachelor's (or equivalency) + 10 years or a master's (or equivalency) + 8 years of directly related work experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the University’s comprehensive social media strategy across institutional platforms.
• Lead and mentor a team of social media professionals with content creation and campaign execution.
• Collaborate with designers, photographers, videographers, writers, and strategists to produce audience-focused storytelling.
• Oversee editorial planning and ensure content reflects brand voice, accessibility, and inclusivity.
• Integrate paid and organic social with broader marketing campaigns; coordinate with campus communicators.
• Define KPIs, analyze performance, and develop executive dashboards for leadership.
• Serve as the primary advisor on social media governance, guidelines, and platform policies.

Skills

Social media strategy

Team management

Content strategy

Campaign leadership

Data analytics

Campus partnerships

Crisis communication

Executive collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Job description

Associate Director, Social Media Management

Job Summary

The Associate Director of Social Media Strategy provides strategicleadership for the University of Utah's enterprise social mediapresence, overseeing the development and execution of comprehensivesocial media strategies that strengthen institutional reputation,increase brand awareness, engage key audiences, and supportuniversity-wide strategic initiatives.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Brand Strategy, this positionleads a team of social media professionals responsible fordeveloping innovative content strategies, managing variousinstitutional social channels, implementing paid and organic socialcampaigns, cultivating campus partnerships, and leveraginganalytics to continuously improve performance.

This role serves as the University's senior subject matter experton social media strategy, emerging platforms, audience behavior,influencer engagement, and digital storytelling while ensuring allsocial media initiatives align with the University's brandstandards, accessibility requirements, and strategic marketinggoals.

The Associate Director collaborates extensively with creativeservices, digital marketing, web development, project management,media relations, university leadership, and colleges across campus to create cohesive campaigns that advance the University's missionand elevate its national reputation.

Learn more about the great benefits of working forUniversity of Utah: benefits.utah.edu

Responsibilities

Enterprise Social Media Strategy

• Develop and execute the University’s comprehensive social mediastrategy across institutional platforms.
• Establish long-term strategic priorities that support brandawareness, enrollment, fundraising, research visibility, athletics,student engagement, and reputation management.
• Identify emerging trends, technologies, and audience behaviorsto ensure the University remains an innovative leader in highereducation social media.
• Develop annual social media roadmaps aligned with institutionalobjectives.
• Ensure social media initiatives support integrated brand andmarketing campaigns across digital marketing, web, email, video,and traditional media.

Team Management

• Direct, manage, mentor, and develop a team of social mediaprofessionals responsible for content creation, publishing,community management, and campaign execution.
• Establish clear goals, expectations, performance metrics, andprofessional development opportunities.
• Conduct hiring, coaching, performance evaluations, and teamdevelopment efforts.
• Foster a collaborative, innovative, and data-informed teamculture.
• Manage workloads and prioritize initiatives across multipleconcurrent projects.

Content Strategy

• Lead the development of strategic content plans that elevatethe University’s brand while engaging prospective students, currentstudents, alumni, faculty, staff, donors, and communitypartners.
• Oversee editorial planning across institutional socialchannels.
• Collaborate with designers, photographers, videographers,writers, and marketing strategists to produce compelling,audience-focused storytelling.
• Ensure content reflects institutional priorities, brand voice,accessibility standards, and inclusive communicationprinciples.
• Guide real-time storytelling during major university events andmilestones.

Campaign Leadership

• Partner with Digital Marketing to integrate paid and organicsocial strategies.
• Lead social media planning for enterprise marketingcampaigns.
• Develop channel strategies supporting various organizationalunits across the university.
• Coordinate with campus communicators to amplify institutionalpriorities.
• Identify opportunities to maximize campaign reach andengagement.

Community Management

• Develop strategies for audience engagement across institutionalchannels.
• Establish best practices for community management andmoderation.
• Coordinate with University Communications during issuesrequiring strategic social response.
• Monitor sentiment, emerging conversations, and reputationtrends.
• Develop crisis communication procedures related to socialmedia.

Data Analytics Tracking and Reporting

• Define key performance indicators for institutional socialmedia.
• Analyze campaign performance using platform analytics andthird-party tools.
• Translate data into actionable recommendations.
• Develop executive dashboards and reports for universityleadership.
• Conduct testing and optimization to improve engagement,audience growth, and campaign effectiveness.

Campus Thought Leadership

• Serve as the University's primary advisor on social mediastrategy and best practices.
• Develop governance standards, publishing guidelines, andplatform policies.
• Consult with colleges, departments, and administrative units onstrategic social media initiatives.
• Lead campus-wide education and training related to socialmedia.
• Build strong partnerships with university leadership and campuscommunicators.

Minimum Qualifications

EQUIVALENCY STATEMENT: 1 year of higher educationcan be substituted for 1 year of directly related work experience(Example: bachelor's degree = 4 years of directly related workexperience).

Associate Director, Social Media Management: Requires a bachelor's (or equivalency) + 10 years or a master's (orequivalency) + 8 years of directly related work experience.

Preferences

• Experience leading enterprise social media strategy for acomplex organization, preferably in the higher-ed space.
• Demonstrated success managing high-performing creative ordigital teams.
• Experience developing integrated marketing campaigns acrosspaid, owned, and earned channels.
• Strong understanding of audience segmentation, contentstrategy, and digital storytelling.
• Experience managing social advertising budgets.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards and inclusive digitalcommunications.
• Experience using enterprise analytics platforms and sociallistening tools.
• Exceptional communication, collaboration, and executivepresentation skills.
• Experience working within higher education, healthcare,government, or similarly complex organizations preferred.

Requisition Number: PRN46032B

Full Time or Part Time?: Full Time

Work Schedule Summary: Standard work week. May need to beavailable some evenings and weekends depending on eventcoverage.

Department: 00339 - Marketing & Communications

Location: Campus

Pay Rate Range: $80,000 - $90,000

Close Date: 10/27/2026

Open Until Filled: