Job Details

Associate Director, Social Media Management

Position Number: 9790776
Location: Salt Lake City, United States
Position Type: Public Relations, Marketing and Communications

Associate Director, Social Media Management

Job Summary

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

Reporting to the Senior Director of Brand Strategy, this position leads a team of social media professionals responsible for developing innovative content strategies, managing various institutional social channels, implementing paid and organic social campaigns, cultivating campus partnerships, and leveraging analytics to continuously improve performance.

This role serves as the University's senior subject matter expert on social media strategy, emerging platforms, audience behavior, influencer engagement, and digital storytelling while ensuring all social media initiatives align with the University's brand standards, accessibility requirements, and strategic marketing goals.

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

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

Responsibilities
Enterprise Social Media Strategy

Develop and execute the University's comprehensive social media strategy across institutional platforms.
Establish long-term strategic priorities that support brand awareness, enrollment, fundraising, research visibility, athletics, student engagement, and reputation management.
Identify emerging trends, technologies, and audience behaviors to ensure the University remains an innovative leader in higher education social media.
Develop annual social media roadmaps aligned with institutional objectives.
Ensure social media initiatives support integrated brand and marketing campaigns across digital marketing, web, email, video, and traditional media.

Team Management

Direct, manage, mentor, and develop a team of social media professionals responsible for content creation, publishing, community management, and campaign execution.
Establish clear goals, expectations, performance metrics, and professional development opportunities.
Conduct hiring, coaching, performance evaluations, and team development efforts.
Foster a collaborative, innovative, and data-informed team culture.
Manage workloads and prioritize initiatives across multiple concurrent projects.

Content Strategy

Lead the development of strategic content plans that elevate the University's brand while engaging prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty, staff, donors, and community partners.
Oversee editorial planning across institutional social channels.
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 communication principles.
Guide real-time storytelling during major university events and milestones.

Campaign Leadership

Partner with Digital Marketing to integrate paid and organic social strategies.
Lead social media planning for enterprise marketing campaigns.
Develop channel strategies supporting various organizational units across the university.
Coordinate with campus communicators to amplify institutional priorities.
Identify opportunities to maximize campaign reach and engagement.

Community Management

Develop strategies for audience engagement across institutional channels.
Establish best practices for community management and moderation.
Coordinate with University Communications during issues requiring strategic social response.
Monitor sentiment, emerging conversations, and reputation trends.
Develop crisis communication procedures related to social media.

Data Analytics Tracking and Reporting

Define key performance indicators for institutional social media.
Analyze campaign performance using platform analytics and third-party tools.
Translate data into actionable recommendations.
Develop executive dashboards and reports for university leadership.
Conduct testing and optimization to improve engagement, audience growth, and campaign effectiveness.

Campus Thought Leadership

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

Minimum Qualifications
EQUIVALENCY STATEMENT: 1 year of higher education can be substituted for 1 year of directly related work experience (Example: bachelor's degree = 4 years of directly related work experience).
Associate Director, Social Media Management: Requires a bachelor's (or equivalency) + 10 years or a master's (or equivalency) + 8 years of directly related work experience.

Preferences

Experience leading enterprise social media strategy for a complex organization, preferably in the higher-ed space.
Demonstrated success managing high-performing creative or digital teams.
Experience developing integrated marketing campaigns across paid, owned, and earned channels.
Strong understanding of audience segmentation, content strategy, and digital storytelling.
Experience managing social advertising budgets.
Knowledge of accessibility standards and inclusive digital communications.
Experience using enterprise analytics platforms and social listening tools.
Exceptional communication, collaboration, and executive presentation skills.
Experience working within higher education, healthcare, government, or similarly complex organizations preferred.

Special Instructions

Requisition Number: PRN46032B
Full Time or Part Time? Full Time
Work Schedule Summary: Standard work week. May need to be available some evenings and weekends depending on event coverage.
Department: 00339 - Marketing & Communications
Location: Campus
Pay Rate Range: $80,000 - $90,000
Close Date: 10/27/2026
Open Until Filled:

To apply, visit <a href=""https://apptrkr.com/9790776"">https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/208203