We are looking for an experienced digital communications associate to join our team of communications professionals. This position reports to the strategic communications manager in Marketing and Communications and is responsible for harnessing our fast-growing social network portfolio to engage and expand our passionate online community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members. As part of a dynamic team, this position also has broad responsibilities in public relations, marketing and communications.

The successful candidate will be a well-rounded professional communicator who thrives in a collaborative environment, with an affinity for and expertise in building online communities. Strong writing skills, a keen eye for detail, a deep understanding of higher-education issues, and sound editorial judgment are essential. He or she will be up to date on social media best practices and will be capable of integrating multimedia and digital tools to create compelling, message-rich content in keeping with the university’s strategic goals.

The Office of Marketing and Communications within University Relations serves as the full-service in-house marketing and public relations arm of the University of Alberta. This team is responsible for building and enhancing the university’s reputation, and implementing and maintaining the institution’s promise (brand) and visual identity to build trust, understanding and support between the university and its worldwide community of stakeholders.

The communications team enhances the reputation and awareness of the University of Alberta by ensuring that stories pitched and told are on message, advance the university’s reputation and support the university’s promise of “uplifting the whole people.”

Duties

• Interacts daily with our audiences through UAlberta social media channels, including moderating and posting, tracking social media metrics and responding via social media or occasionally by email or phone
• Creates and maintains a co-ordinated production schedule of content and information for university social media communities
• Seeks and develops relationships with key stakeholders such as students, faculty and staff, and community members
• Uses best practices in social media to create community and engage followers, and teaches other university staff how to make the best use of social media for their communications needs
• Develops and reports on social media metrics for the university overall, as well as for targeted campaigns
• Performs a variety of communications duties as needed, including media relations and writing speaking notes, briefing documents, news and feature stories, and communications plans

Qualifications

• The ideal candidate will have an undergraduate degree in communications, public relations, marketing, journalism or a related discipline; equivalent combinations of education and experience may be considered
• Minimum 5 years of experience in leading online community engagement projects, including bringing digital campaigns to life using new media
• Minimum 3 years of experience in public relations or communications, including writing materials for different audiences, media relations and event management
• Exceptional track record of developing and implementing social media strategies that have consistently met or exceeded planned objectives
• Ability to form and foster relationships by promoting positive feedback and appropriately handling negative feedback in the social space
• Deep familiarity with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, Blogger and Foursquare interfaces
• Proven ability to identify and assess emerging platforms for strategic expansion of social media communications
• Understanding of Google Analytics and ability to set up custom reports