Social Media Community Manager

We’re a 700K+ subscriber political commentary and video-essay brand on YouTube, and we’re hiring a Social Media & Community Manager to build everything *around* the main channel. Your core mission: grow our **Instagram and Facebook** accounts — and build and grow a **brand-new X account from scratch** — until they match the audience we have on YouTube, and own the community and distribution that turn viewers into a loyal, engaged following. (Note: the host’s existing personal X account stays in his own hands and voice — it is not part of this role.) You’ll be the public voice of the brand across platforms, the owner of our content calendar, and the person who makes sure our Shorts, clips, graphics, and merch are all working together. This is a paid, full-time, **in-person role in our Champaign, IL office.** Responsibilities * **Own and grow our Instagram and Facebook accounts, and launch and grow a brand-new X account from zero** — set the strategy and hit real follower and engagement growth targets to close the gap with our YouTube audience. * **Manage our YouTube community** — respond to channel member comments, run polls, post community updates, and create engagement plays that build loyalty and retention. * **Distribute our content across every platform** — post the Shorts and clips we produce and the graphics our designer creates (at your direction), each in its platform-native format. * **Own the content calendar** and posting cadence across all channels. * **Drive merch** — generate merch ideas, oversee the merch store day-to-day so everything runs smoothly, and coordinate with our web developer on the store and website. * **Direct the graphic designer** on social and brand graphics — brief what you need and when. * **Track analytics** across platforms and continuously iterate toward what’s growing. * **Use AI tools** to repurpose long content into clips and posts, schedule, scout trends, and move faster than a traditional one-person social team. * Be a sharp, on-brand voice in every caption and reply. Skills * **A proven social growth track record — required.** Show us accounts you’ve grown and the actual numbers. Strategy talk without results won’t cut it. Bonus if you’ve taken an account from zero — you’ll be launching our X presence from scratch. * **Native fluency across platforms** — Instagram (Reels), X, Facebook, and YouTube community + Shorts. TikTok is a plus. * **Community management instincts** — you know how to turn a comment section into a community, and how to engage without feeding trolls. * **Strong short-form content sense** — hooks, captions, and the ability to repurpose a long video essay into a week of clips and posts. * **Sharp social copywriting.** * **E-commerce / merch coordination** (Shopify or similar) — a plus. * Comfortable **directing a designer and collaborating with a developer.** * **AI-fluent** — scheduling, repurposing, and trend-scouting tools, with eagerness to adopt new ones. * **Analytics-driven** — you make decisions from the numbers, not vibes. * **Editorial alignment** — genuinely comfortable being the public voice of a pro-America commentary brand. * Organized self-starter who can own the entire social function end to end. Paid Assignment (required before hire) We want to see how you’d actually run this, so finalists complete a short paid assignment: * A **30-day growth plan** for one platform of your choice (Instagram or X). * **Five sample posts/captions** in our brand voice. * A plan to turn **one of our long video essays into a week of cross-platform content.** Proof of Work Required Applications without proof won’t be considered. Send links to accounts and campaigns you’ve grown, with before/after metrics. In your note, tell us how you’d grow *our* socials and which AI tools you’d use to do it. **Location:** Champaign, IL — in-person office role. You’ll work alongside our designer and team day to day. Pay: $50,000.00 - $60,000.00 per year Benefits: * Paid time off Work Location: In person