Senior Social Media & Community Manager

Job Title: Senior Social Media & Community Manager 
Company: WPP Media South Africa
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Reports To: Strategic Account Manager: Social & Influencer

About the Role  

The Social Media and Community Manager is the brand’s principal storyteller and organic content strategist for our key client accounts. Reporting to the Strategic Account Manager, you are responsible for developing and executing a compelling social media presence that builds community, drives engagement, and reinforces brand values. This role requires a deep understanding of platform nuances, a creative mindset, and an analytical approach to performance. You will ensure all organic social activity is strategically aligned with the overarching brand playbook and seamlessly integrated with paid and influencer marketing initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:
Community Management & Brand Guardianship:

• Community Engagement & Moderation: Own the real-time conversation by meticulously monitoring all social media channels (comments, DMs, mentions). Respond to user comments and queries in a timely, empathetic, and on-brand manner, strictly adhering to the established brand tone of voice.
• Social Listening & Insight Generation: Actively monitor the social landscape using listening tools to track and report on brand sentiment, share of voice, and key conversation themes. Distil this "Voice of the Consumer" data into actionable insights to inform the content strategy.
• Crisis Management & Escalation: Act as the first line of defence in identifying and flagging potential PR crises, reputational risks, or significant spikes in negative sentiment. You are required to immediately escalate any sensitive or high-risk issues to leadership according to the established crisis communication protocol.

Organic Strategy & Content Planning:

• Develop, plan, and execute the end-to-end organic social media strategy for our key accounts.
  Create, own, and manage the monthly social content calendars, ensuring they are strategically aligned with the brand's business objectives, communication strategy, and overall media plan.
  Lead the creative ideation for organic content, developing platform-native concepts that resonate with the target audience and drive conversation.
  Ensure all content and communication are in strict alignment with the brand’s established playbooks, guides, and tone of voice.

Brand Guardianship & Quality Control:

• Act as the primary guardian of the brand’s voice and personality across all social media platforms.
• Collaborate closely with internal and external creative teams to ensure all visual and copy assets are of high quality, on-brand, and optimized for each platform.
• Ensure all published content is compliant with platform rules, advertising standards (ASA), and the brand's legal and safety guidelines.

Performance Analysis & Optimization:

• Meticulously track and analyse the performance of all organic social content, reporting on key metrics such as engagement rate, reach, follower growth, and video views.
• Prepare and present regular performance reports to clients and internal leadership, translating raw data into actionable insights and strategic recommendations for future content.
• Use social listening insights, provided by the Community management, to inform the content strategy, identify trends, and tap into relevant cultural moments.

Collaboration & Integration:

• Work in a tight, collaborative loop with the Community management, providing them with the content plan and in turn, using their real-time community feedback to refine your strategy.
• Coordinate with the Account Management and Influencer teams to ensure a seamless, integrated narrative across all brand touchpoints, aligning content timing and messaging.
• Stay at the forefront of the social media landscape, identifying new platform features, content formats, and growth opportunities, and educating the wider team on their potential.

Required Capabilities:
Experience:

• 5–7+ years of dedicated experience in social media management, preferably within a media agency or working on a large global/FMCG brand.
• Proven track record of leading organic social strategies, presenting to senior clients and delivering measurable business results.

Skills:

•    Strategic & Creative Thinker: A strong ability to blend creative ideation with strategic planning to develop content that is both engaging and purposeful.
  •    Deep Platform Expertise: An excellent, hands-on understanding of all major social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, etc.), their algorithms, best practices, and content formats.
  •    Analytical Acumen: The ability to analyse social media data, derive meaningful insights, and use them to make informed decisions and optimize performance.
  •    Communication & Presentation Skills: Strong ability to articulate strategic thinking and present content calendars and performance reports clearly and persuasively to clients.
  •    Basic Video Editing: Ability to edit Reels, TikToks and Shorts for social platforms.
  •    Mobile Videography: Comfortable filming high-quality content using smartphones.
  •    AI Content Creation: Experience using AI tools to accelerate creative development and production.
  •    Content Creation: Advanced Canva skills with the ability to create social-first assets.

Attributes:

• Digitally-Native & Passionate: A genuine passion for social media, brand building, and understanding what makes content resonate with audiences online.
• Highly Collaborative: A team player who understands that the best work comes from integrating different disciplines and perspectives.
• Brand-Obsessed: A deep respect for brand integrity with an eagle eye for detail in tone, messaging, and visual identity.
• Proactive & Curious: Constantly seeking out what's new and what's next in the digital world and thinking about how it can be applied to our clients.

Overview of KPI’s (to be evolved as required by the business)

The KPIs for this role are part of a dynamic performance development framework. They will be formally reviewed and updated on an annual basis to ensure alignment with evolving business objectives and your personal career development goals. This entire process is managed collaboratively through goal setting and progress tracking within our dedicated platform