Social Media & Influencer Lead

Colgate-Palmolive Company; Midrand; On-site; ZAR 600 000 - 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A global consumer products company is seeking a Social Media and Influencer Lead based in Midrand, South Africa. This role involves developing and managing a comprehensive social media strategy across top brands in Africa–Eurasia. The ideal candidate should have over 5 years of solid experience in social media and influencer marketing, demonstrating strong analytical skills and a creative mindset. This position is crucial for driving brand engagement and ensuring effective collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience managing social media and influencer strategies.
• Strong analytical skills for interpreting platform data.
• Experience with paid social campaigns in FMCG sector preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage Social Media & Influencer strategy.
• Oversee organic and paid social media activities.
• Monitor and optimize social media campaigns.

Skills

Social media strategy

Influencer marketing

Content creation

Analytics and reporting

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Advertising, Marketing, or Communications

Tools

META Business Suite

TikTok Ads Manager

Influencer Management Platforms

Job description

No Relocation Assistance Offered

Job Number#170689 - Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa

Who We Are

Colgate-Palmolive Company is a global consumer products company operating in over 200 countries specializing in Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care, Skin Care, and Pet Nutrition. Our products are trusted in more households than any other brand in the world, making us a household name!

Join Colgate‑Palmolive, a caring, innovative growth company reimagining a healthier future for people, their pets, and our planet. Guided by our core values—Caring, Inclusive, and Courageous— we foster a culture that inspires our people to achieve common goals. Together, let’s build a brighter, healthier future for all.

Job Summary

Colgate‑Palmolive is seeking an experienced Social Media and Influencer Lead to develop, implement, and manage our comprehensive Social Media and Influencer strategy for Colgate‑Palmolive across our top‑priority brands and markets in Africa‑Eurasia. This role will play an important, change‑management part in driving our “Social‑first” approach within the entire division. This role is paramount in positioning social media and creator content as a core omni‑channel demand generation driver, responsible for significantly increasing our brand relevance and social engagement. A key focus will be leveraging creators and influencers to serve as a high‑volume, authentic content engine for our brands, driving measurable business outcomes, from upper‑funnel awareness and consideration to conversion. The ideal candidate is a strategic leader and a hands‑on player with a proven track record in developing high‑impact organic and paid social strategies, managing large‑scale influencer campaigns, and driving measurable results across diverse platforms (e.g. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, X, Facebook). This role will serve as our in‑house subject matter expert, partnering closely with the Hub digital & media team, brand teams and agency partners to drive growth and ensure digital executional excellence.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead, define and implement change management across the division as we move into a social‑first mind set—this role will lead and drive influence across the division and hub teams to reach social and influencer goals.
• Develop and execute a robust Social Media & Influencer strategy tailored to our AED brands and markets to drive brand love, community growth, and conversion.
• Partner with Division and Hub brand teams to make sure that our social media strategies, plans and executions drive and meet our Brand Growth Plans.
• Drive partnership and expertise with our agency partners across Division and Hubs to ensure we are always working with the best partners and teams.
• Oversee all organic and paid social media activities across key platforms, focusing on driving high engagement rates, brand visibility, and qualified traffic to brand and selected e‑commerce sites.
• Design, implement, and manage our comprehensive Influencer Marketing program—identification, outreach, contracting, content briefing, and performance tracking across micro, macro, and celebrity tiers.
• Guide the content creation in creating platform‑native, engaging, and culturally relevant content that optimizes for algorithmic discovery (e.g. TikTok For You Page, Instagram Reels), leveraging trending formats and audio.
• Monitor and optimise all paid social media campaigns (e.g. META Ads, TikTok Ads) to maximise ROAS and minimise CPA alongside the Hub teams and agency partners.
• Conduct regular social listening and competitive analysis to identify emerging trends, consumer sentiment, and best practices, adapting our strategy quickly to maintain relevance.
• Perform A/B testing on content formats, ad creatives, community engagement tactics, and influencer outreach models to drive continuous improvement.
• Define, monitor and report on KPIs for all social media and influencer initiatives (e.g. engagement rate, reach, follower growth, sentiment, conversion), preparing detailed reports for senior management with actionable insights.
• Serve as the central in‑house expert on social media and influencer marketing, providing guidance, training and best practices to local subsidiary digital teams.
• Ensure strict compliance with all local regulations and platform policies regarding content disclosure, data privacy, and influencer transparency.

Education, Experience, & Skill Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Advertising, Marketing, Communications, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 5+ years of hands‑on experience managing complex social media and influencer marketing strategies for a large brand (FMCG preferable) or agency.
• A creative mindset with the ability to define a seamless creative approach across social, influencers and content.
• Keen awareness of social media trends and how they can be translated into best‑in‑class social media strategies and content execution.
• Proven track record of successfully building brand presence, engagement and managing complex paid social campaigns.
• Expert knowledge of key social media analytics platforms (e.g. META Business Suite, TikTok Ads Manager) and social listening / monitoring tools.
• Experience using Influencer Management Platforms (e.g. CreatorIQ, Influential) and understanding of building out qualified influencer / creator teams.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret platform data, identify content performance trends, and make data‑driven decisions.
• Strong communication, presentation, and collaboration skills, with the ability to explain complex channel performance to non‑technical stakeholders, upskill brand teams, and influence senior management.
• Self‑starter with a creative and experimental (test‑and‑learn) mindset, capable of prioritising tasks and working in a fast‑paced corporate environment without full guidance.
• Results‑driven and oriented toward driving measurable business outcomes from social media investments.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

Our journey begins with our people—developing strong talent with diverse backgrounds and perspectives to best serve our consumers around the world and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels a true sense of belonging. We are dedicated to ensuring that each individual can be their authentic self, is treated with respect, and is empowered by leadership to contribute meaningfully to our business.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Colgate is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, marital status, veteran status (United States positions), or any other characteristic protected by law. Reasonable accommodation during the application process is available for persons with disabilities. Please complete this request form should you require accommodation.