Social Lead, Essence Festival of Culture

Essence Ventures is seeking an experienced and talented Creative Director, Marketing to lead and manage the creative of marketing and branded content projects across our portfolio. They will be responsible for overseeing and leading the team in developing and executing marketing campaigns that effectively promote a brand, product or service. They play a crucial role in defining the creative direction of the company's marketing and advertising strategies, and work closely with other departments to ensure that all marketing initiatives are aligned with the brand's overall messaging and goals. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and implementing innovative marketing strategies and campaigns that drive brand awareness, engagement, and revenue growth.

This person will be an integral to the success of overall marketing and will lead the ever-important social funtion in all stages of the event, including on-the-ground social support. They will be a key member of the social team and work cross functionally with the dedicated team executing festival initiatives. This person should be prepared to roll up their sleeves and be proactive. We are looking for a leader who is highly organized, creative and focused on exceeding performance goals. At the center of the marketing organization is a shared mission of Black storytelling, Black celebration, and product innovation across a range of channels and this leader plays an integral in delivering this mission.

This role reports to the Senior Director of Social, Essence Ventures, and oversees festival related social Strategy as a member of the Essence Ventures Social team. This candidate will serve as primary lead on the newly created, always-on ESSENCE Festival of Culture team.

Core Responsibilities:

• Serve as the social lead for the signature ESSENCE Festival of Culture
• Manage strategy, planning, production, publishing, engagement and on-site execution and event reporting and recaps for festival related handles
• Create a social strategy to support Essence Festival of Culture including defining success metrics and KPIs; report on progress to cross functional partners
• Manage the relationship with platform reps at Meta, Instagram, Pinterest etc. in order to optimize social plans to support the festival
• Create and manage talent and influencer strategy to work alongside social strategy
• Drive cross-functional alignment and across several disciplines (communications, marketing, experiential activations, creative, etc)., as a core member of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture always-on core team.
• Manage relationship with Event Sponsors. Develop and create valuable benefits for sponsors of the event as part of social activations.
• Hire and manage an on-the-ground production team to create social content in real time
• Manage budgets, timely billing and reporting and work with finance teams of agency partners for proper invoice processing
• Ensure social best practices are applied across all content
• Create new innovative ways to engage with our audience on social ensuring that ESSENCE is an early innovator on emerging platforms and abreast of the latest social media trends.
• Perform additional duties as assigned by the direct manager.
  
  

Qualifications:

• At least 5 years of experience in a social-media or similar event marketing role with progressive responsibilities.
• Previous experience creating social strategy for festivals and events
• Knowledge of, passion for, and experience with social-media platforms, both established and emerging.
• Previous experience managing a Team or large scale cross functional project
• Familiarity and experience with Social publishing and reporting tools
• Meticulous attention to detail and strong organizational and communication skills.
• Ambitious, proactive, creative, and a quick learner.
• Familiarity with video production tools and processes a plus.
• Familiarity with and interest in the history, style, and voice of ESSENCE.
  
  

Full Suite of Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k, EAP

Salary $110 – 120K