The Athletic is looking for an audience-focused Social Media Associate with a keen interest in sports journalism to help grow our reach across emerging and established platforms. In this role, you'll identify opportunities to connect our journalism with sports fans, package editorial content for off-platform audiences and drive referral traffic back to The Athletic. You'll have a curiosity and willingness to understand how platforms work, shift and what new trends exist in the social media audience space. The ideal candidate has a passion for media and football in particular, strong editorial instincts and a penchant for experimenting with new ways to grow audiences. This hybrid role will be based in London.
Responsibilities
- Drive growth and referral traffic by identifying opportunities across emerging and established platforms, including X, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, WhatsApp and new distribution channels.
- Produce platform-specific content that drives engagement, conversation and clicks back to The Athletic.
- Create and optimize reporter videos and other video content, crafting platform-specific copy to maximize reach and engagement.
- Support live coverage of breaking news, major sporting events and tentpole moments across social and emerging platforms.
- Monitor platform trends, audience behavior and algorithm changes, testing new formats and distribution strategies to maximize reach and traffic.
- Analyze performance data to identify what's working, share insights with the newsroom and continually refine distribution strategies.
- Collaborate with reporters, editors and audience teams to identify stories with the greatest off-platform potential and execute distribution plans.
- Help build engaged fan communities and identify new opportunities to grow The Athletic's audience beyond traditional social platforms.
- Launch breaking news emails from stories trending in the football, general sports space.
Requirements
- 1 to 3 years of experience in social media, sports media or publishing
- A true passion for sports journalism and willingness to get stuck in when a huge story breaks/event happens
- Demonstrated platform fluency on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit and WhatsApp in business/professional applications and experience managing large social channels
- Video editing experience
- Experience with graphic creation
- Strong writing skills with a keen eye for detail and grammar
- Demonstrable interest and knowledge of Premier League, European, international and women’s football, as well as a working knowledge of major US sports
- Flexibility to work different shifts (early, late, weekends) around the sporting calendar, particularly European football
- Knowledge of social media best practices & resources.
- A positive attitude and a willingness to learn and develop
Skills Required
- 1 to 3 years of experience in social media, sports media, or publishing
- Passion for sports journalism and willingness to support major breaking stories and events
- Professional platform fluency with X, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and WhatsApp
- Experience managing large social channels
- Video editing experience
- Experience with graphic creation
- Strong writing skills and attention to detail and grammar
- Knowledge of Premier League, European, international, and women’s football
- Working knowledge of major US sports
- Flexibility to work early, late, and weekend shifts around the sporting calendar
- Knowledge of social media best practices and resources
- Positive attitude and willingness to learn and develop
What We Do
Here for every sports story that matters. -- The Athletic (http://theathletic.com) is a subscription-based media publisher of smarter sports coverage for die-hard fans. Founded in 2016, The Athletic’s all-star team of writers have produced thousands of quality stories for subscribers free of ads, pop-ups and auto-play videos. The Athletic now offers in-depth local coverage in 47 North American pro sports markets along with premium national coverage across MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA & more. Readers can count on original, authentic storytelling written by talented local and national sports journalists like Ken Rosenthal, Pierre LeBrun, Seth Davis, Stewart Mandel, Shams Charania and many more. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.
