Social Media Manager, BuzzFeed UK

About Independent Media

Independent Media comprises The Independent, Standard Digital, Bulletin, BuzzFeed UK, HuffPost UK, Tasty UK, Seasoned, IndyBest and indy100.

Harnessing market-leading innovation and excellence across its portfolio of pioneering brands, Independent Media has unrivalled scale, integrity and authority via its sites, apps, video, audio, experiential, newsletters and social media.

While each Independent Media brand speaks in an authentic, unique voice to a loyal and distinct audience, they stand together in their commitment to positivity, inclusivity, and quality journalism and content.

Independent Media’s network reaches 650 million users each month, with 1.1 billion content views across its brands and platforms, including web, apps, social media, podcasts, email, YouTube, syndication partners and print.

The role and the team Reporting into the Head of Platform Strategy, the Social Media Manager will oversee channel management and video publishing across Independent Media’s social platforms (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X, etc.)

As well as distributing social content, the successful candidate will be responsible for producing visual, industry-leading social image posts, videos, and craft engaging social copy.

The role requires a passionate and creative individual with a deep understanding of social platforms and channel management.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. As a growing and global brand, we must have a workforce that’s more representative of our readers, viewers, clients and partners, and a workplace that creates a sense of belonging for everyone

• We are committed to hiring and developing a diverse workforce regardless of background, and we support our people to thrive in their careers here.

The Independent is an equal opportunities employer, if you require any reasonable adjustments to complete your application, please do not hesitate to advise us accordingly.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities

• Content Optimisation and Distribution:

  • Manage end-to-end distribution of social news content for Independent Media’s social platforms.

  • Source, refine, and publish industry-leading creator content designed to develop our digital audiences and drive meaningful engagement.

• Community & Brand Safety:

  • Execute active community management (moderating comments, managing takedowns) and drive audience engagement via Stories and Broadcast channels.

• Content & Strategy:

  • Help execute the day-to-day operations of our Creator strategy, ensuring we publish the correct volume of creator content, optimised effectively for our audience.

  • Create high-impact social assets (images/carousels) to drive engagement and reach.

  • Gather social trends, regularly monitor the competitive landscape and identify opportunities we can learn from.

• Data & Analytics:

  • Monitor and analyse our social media performance, tracking key metrics including video views, engagement and revenue.

  • Run data-driven feedback loops with the wider social team and content producers to ensure we constantly learn from our performance..

Essential skills and experience

• Experience in social media management (Brand, Publisher or Creator account)

• Experience in creating visual thumbnail images using image editing software such as Adobe or Canva.

• Experience in creating and editing video content (e.g., using tools like Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, Capcut).

• Excellent understanding of social media platforms and their algorithms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.).

• Strong writing and communication skills, with the ability to craft compelling and concise social media copy.

• Excellent time management and organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines.

Our values – you will deliver across all our values

Inclusive : We champion diversity in our teams and in our reporting. Working as a team, we put transparency and effective communication at the heart of everything we do.

Innovative: From the very beginning, The Independent has been breaking the mould. We take risks and are always looking to try new ideas in pursuit of excellence.

Independent: Nobody tells us what to think; we make up our own minds and aren’t afraid to do things differently. Like our readers, we value honesty and integrity above outside influences.