Social Media Audience Engagement Specialist
About the Opportunity
Job Summary
Northeastern University is looking for a creative, highly motivated
Social Media Audience Engagement Specialist to help lead
Northeastern Global News' (NGN) multi-platform audience engagement
strategy. The person in this role will put NGN's award-winning
journalism in front of new audiences and drive audience growth and
engagement through platform-native content, distribution, and
steady experimentation.
The Social Media Audience Engagement Specialist focuses on Reddit,
Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other platforms to share owned
news content and build engagement around it. The individual will
partner with editorial and multimedia teams to identify and
implement strategies for sharing newsworthy content across
platforms that promote Northeastern's research and teaching
enterprise.
This role is ideal for someone who lives and breathes news and
social media, including being a Reddit expert, and has a deep
understanding of data analytics, strategic audience growth, and
news content distribution.
Higher education experience is not required.
The person in this role knows social media deeply and keeps a close
eye on how platforms and their audiences are evolving. They bring
strong news instincts and editorial judgment, can turn complex
research into content that travels, and act as a creative partner
to the newsroom rather than a distribution channel. While the role
focuses primarily on NGN content, it also calls for supporting
Northeastern's enterprise accounts during high-visibility moments
and major university initiatives.
Working alongside editorial, multimedia, and digital teams, the
person in this role will use platform-native formats, social
listening, analytics, and constant testing to grow the audience and
deepen engagement with reporting.
This role reports to the Director of Social Media within the
Communications division of Northeastern's External Affairs team.
Northeastern is a global research university with 14 campuses in
three countries. The university's Communications strategy focuses
on promoting the university, its faculty, students, and community
by showcasing leadership and innovation across the
enterprise.
The position is based on the Boston campus and is fully in-person.
After-hours and weekend work are occasionally required.
Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities
NGN Audience Growth & Distribution
- Grow NGN's audience and reach across social media, with
Instagram and Reddit as the priority channels.
Continue building NGN's Reddit distribution strategy by
expanding presence in relevant subreddits, sharing reporting in
ways that respect each community's culture and rules, facilitating
faculty Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions, and managing a two-prong
account approach.
Shape NGN's journalism into platform-native formats by
partnering with reporters and video producers to identify stories
with high social potential and turn faculty research into content
that travels.
Build recurring social media franchises that encourage audience
return visits, test new platforms and features, and scale
successful approaches.
Audience Insights, Performance & Social Listening
- Set measurable goals, track performance, and use analytics to
strengthen content strategy.
- Surface audience insights that inform editorial decisions.
- Conduct social listening and monitoring by identifying
conversations, sentiment, emerging stories, and reputational
signals, and routing relevant information to appropriate
stakeholders.
Enterprise & Cross-Functional Support
- Support Northeastern's enterprise accounts and campaigns during
high-visibility moments and major university initiatives.
- Collaborate closely with NGN journalists, multimedia producers,
media relations colleagues, and faculty colleagues to maintain
cohesive messaging across platforms.
Minimum Qualifications
- 3-4 years of social media experience, ideally in news, media,
or a fast-moving brand.
- Strong news judgment and an instinct for stories that will
travel.
- Demonstrated ability to grow a social media audience, with
measurable follower and engagement gains.
- Expertise in Reddit, including familiarity with Reddit's
community culture and interest in reaching audiences there.
- Fluency in Instagram, with working knowledge of Reddit,
LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Threads.
- Ability to execute a data-informed strategy against clear,
measurable goals.
- Experience with social analytics and listening tools such as
Sprinklr, Sprout Social, Meta Business Suite, or native platform
insights.
- Exceptional writing, copyediting, and proofreading skills, with
the ability to adapt voice across platforms.
- Strong visual judgment and the ability to refresh existing
templates and graphics.
- Ability to independently manage NGN's channels while
collaborating across teams and supporting enterprise work as
needed.
- Consistent attention to detail.
Required Documents
Position Type
Marketing and Communications
Additional Information
Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work
experience, education and skills when extending an offer.
Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit
eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid
time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as
well as commuting & transportation. Visit
https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for
more information.
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive
consideration for employment without regard to race, religion,
color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability
status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable
law.
Compensation Grade/Pay Type:
109S
Expected Hiring Range:
$67,855.00 - $95,845.00
With the pay range(s) shown above, the starting salary will depend
on several factors, which may include your education, experience,
location, knowledge and expertise, and skills as well as a pay
comparison to similarly-situated employees already in the role.
Salary ranges are reviewed regularly and are subject to
change.
To apply, visit https://northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/careers/job/Boston-MA-Main-Campus/Social-Media-Audience-Engagement-Specialist_R141938
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