SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALIST
Position Summary
The Social Media Specialist is a creative, hands-on storyteller responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of Visit Oakland’s social media channels and bringing Oakland’s stories to life through timely, engaging and authentic content. Embedded within the marketing team, this role supports Visit Oakland’s broader marketing, public relations, sales, partnership and community initiatives.
The ideal candidate is both a social media professional and a strong content creator who builds local relationships, proactively identifies opportunities, connects with the community, and captures, edits and publishes compelling photos and video content quickly. This person engages audiences in real time, follows trends, experiments, takes thoughtful creative risks and develops content designed to perform—while representing Oakland’s diverse communities authentically and responsibly, and increasing tourism to Oakland.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Channel and Community Management
- Manage Visit Oakland's day-to-day social presence, including content planning, creation, scheduling, publishing, monitoring and real-time engagement across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, LinkedIn, YouTube and emerging platforms.
- Develop and maintain an integrated content calendar aligned with Visit Oakland's brand, marketing priorities, campaigns, events and partner commitments.
- Monitor comments, direct messages, mentions and relevant conversations, responding promptly and prioritizing sensitive matters when appropriate.
- Maintain a consistent Visit Oakland brand voice while adapting content appropriately for each platform, audience and situation.
- Stay current on platform changes, social trends, audience behavior, competitor activity, relevant events and best practices, identifying opportunities for Visit Oakland to participate authentically and effectively.
- Collaborate closely with the Director of Marketing to develop and execute a holistic paid social media strategy across platforms, including audience targeting, campaign development, budget allocation, performance monitoring and optimization.
Content Creation and Oakland Storytelling
- Serve as an active storyteller for Oakland by regularly experiencing the city to discover businesses, neighborhoods, events, attractions, food, arts, culture, sports, outdoor activities and people that can become compelling social content.
- Create original, platform-specific content from concept through publication, including photography, short-form video, reels, TikToks, stories, interviews, captions, graphics, user-generated content and other emerging formats.
- Capture, edit and publish high-quality content quickly and in real time from events, activations, press opportunities and community moments, including evening and weekend events as needed.
- Proactively identify content opportunities rather than relying solely on requests or a predetermined calendar; maintain a pipeline of evergreen and timely story ideas.
- Balance content designed to drive reach, engagement and audience growth with content that meaningfully supports Oakland's community, partners and organizational priorities.
- Manage and organize social media assets and fulfill relevant asset requests using CrowdRiff and other content-management tools.
Organizational, Partner and Community Integration
- Stay connected to Visit Oakland's work and proactively identify ways social media can support marketing campaigns, public relations opportunities, meetings and sales initiatives, partnerships, events and organization-wide priorities.
- Collaborate closely with the marketing team and coordinate with public relations to ensure social media is integrated into major initiatives from inception.
- Build trusted relationships with Oakland businesses, attractions, event organizers, cultural organizations, community partners and other stakeholders to uncover stories and strengthen Visit Oakland's local content network.
- Attend internal meetings, partner activities, community events, including evening and weekend events as needed, and other relevant opportunities to develop the institutional knowledge and context needed to represent Visit Oakland and Oakland effectively.
- Support community outreach initiatives and represent Visit Oakland professionally and respectfully in public-facing settings.
- Support and promote Visit Oakland’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity as we market our destination.
Content Creators and Influencers
- Proactively identify, vet and manage external content creators and influencers who can authentically help tell Oakland's story.
- Evaluate creators based on audience, content quality, authenticity, community connection, brand fit and expected performance, recognizing that the strongest partner is not always the creator with the largest following.
- Coordinate creator briefs, deliverables, timelines, agreements, itineraries, appointments, content usage rights, approvals and performance reporting in collaboration with the Director of Marketing and Director of PR and Communications.
- Build and maintain an ongoing network of Oakland creators and outside influencers who may be activated for campaigns, events and destination storytelling.
Analytics, Reporting and Optimization
- Track and analyze social media performance across Visit Oakland's channels, including reach, engagement, interactions, follower growth, video views, referral traffic, conversions and other relevant key performance indicators.
- Maintain dashboards and provide clear, periodic reports and presentations on channel, campaign and individual-post performance for the Visit Oakland team, leadership, Executive Committee and Board of Directors as requested.
- Translate data into actionable insights by communicating what is performing, what is not, emerging trends, lessons learned and recommendations for future content and channel improvement.
- Monitor the performance of creator and influencer partnerships and document results against agreed-upon goals and deliverables.
- Support paid social campaigns, including audience targeting, creative development, monitoring and performance reporting, in collaboration with the Director of Marketing.
Qualifications
- Three or more years of professional experience in social media, digital content, communications, marketing or a related field; destination, hospitality, lifestyle, cultural or community-focused experience is a plus.
- Bachelor's degree in communications, marketing, journalism, design or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
- A strong portfolio demonstrating original social-first content, including short-form video, photography, writing and platform-specific storytelling.
- Demonstrated ability to capture and edit compelling photo and video content using mobile and/or professional equipment.
- Excellent copywriting, editing and proofreading skills, with the ability to develop an engaging and consistent brand voice.
- Strong working knowledge of major social platforms, publishing and analytics tools and emerging technologies.
- Proficiency with content-creation and editing tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva, CapCut or similar platforms.
- Experience identifying and managing influencers or content creators, including briefs, deliverables, schedules and performance measurement.
- Ability to interpret social performance data and communicate findings, insights and recommendations clearly to varied audiences.
- Strong judgment and cultural awareness, with an understanding of how to balance performance, authenticity, community relevance and organizational priorities.
- Knowledge of Oakland's neighborhoods, cultures, businesses, events and communities—or demonstrated curiosity and commitment to developing that knowledge quickly.
- Ability to build effective relationships with internal colleagues, partners, creators, businesses and community stakeholders.
- Proactive, resourceful and responsive, with the ability to move quickly while maintaining accuracy, professionalism and sound judgment.
- Highly organized and able to manage multiple projects, deadlines and shifting priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Available to attend events and capture content during evenings, weekends and occasional holidays as needed.
Physical Requirements
The physical and work requirements listed are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Ability to sit and work with hands and arms for at least eight (8) hours per day and five (5) days per week.
- Physical ability to stand, reach, lift, bend, kneel, stoop, climb, walk, crawl, push and pull items weighing up to 20 pounds.
- Stand and move throughout the office.
- Have consistent and reliable attendance.
- Proficient interpersonal relations and communicative skills in English.
- Interpret a variety of instructions furnished in English in written, oral, diagram or schedule form.
- Write routine reports and correspondence.
- Meet daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly and other deadlines consistently.
- Work under pressure with changing, ambiguous priorities.
- Communicate effectively and promptly with clients and employees of the organization.
- High level of manual dexterity to adeptly type and use computer equipment.
- Auditory and visual skills necessary to perform the essential functions of the position.
- Ability to work overtime occasionally at the last minute.
Compensation
Competitive Salary
Benefits: Medical, dental, life and retirement benefits
Relocation Package: Not available
How to Apply
Submit resume, cover letter, portfolio or relevant content samples, and three professional references to jasmin@visitoakland.com.
For the complete job description and application instructions, please visit our Careers page at VisitOakland.com.
