The City of Southport is currently seeking an Information Specialist who can serve as an acting Public Information Officer for the City, as well as a Social Media Coordinator and Media Production Specialist as part of the Tourism Department.

This person is responsible for informing and educating citizens and other target audiences about the city, promoting awareness about the city, and increasing positive exposure. They would manage the social media strategy and content for the City of Southport’s official social media platforms, supporting the City’s brand strategy, and the Board of Aldermen’s communications goals. They will film the Board of Aldermen meetings and the City Mayor monthly, special workshops, and special meetings as needed. They will film special events as needed for Facebook Live, Instagram, or Youtube channels.

This work involves considerable broad contact with the public, City officials, and City staff. Considerable creativity, flexibility, and independence are essential to this position. An employee in this class is distinguished by having the frequent exercise of initiative, independent judgment, and discretion. Work is performed under the general supervision of the Tourism Director.

Example of Duties:

• Manages timely & accurate content for the website and collaborates across departments to manage the implementation of that new website content.
• Manages City’s codeRED platform.
• Manages City e-mail distribution lists and/or databases used for effective outreach, communications, and marketing functions; provides direct information to citizens.
• Establishes and maintains effective media relations; responds to media inquiries; schedules and coordinates press conferences and/or interviews for elected officials and staff; and notifies/briefs media representatives.
• Collaborates with the Tourism team to develop a strategic communications plan for the city.
• Manages City brand and activities in support of branding/rebranding strategies; coordinates with City staff to ensure authentic branding across all departments.
• Supports City special events, programs, and activities, and assists with marketing and outreach plans and activities for these; advises and/or assists with special event setup and logistics as needed and at the direction of the Tourism Director.
• Manages multiple social media platforms to maximize the potential of each social channel, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and others as the city grows and need arises.
• Develop and implement social media strategy that ensures brand consistency.
• Seeks out information from various departments and creates informative, engaging, and effective content optimized for social media platforms including written posts, short video, animations, and photographs with supervision.
• Provide education and direction to departments and programs on developing their social media presence, including training on social media best practices and branding and municipality legalities surrounding our platforms.
• Responsible for responding to comments and questions from social media followers with accuracy, professionalism, and timeliness.
• Monitors and analyzes social media performance across channels to determine the effectiveness and improve strategy.
• Responsible for relaying emergency notifications on social media as needed, including during non-regular work hours.
• Develops effective strategies and tactics that increase social media followers and user engagement.
• Edits press releases, marketing messages, and web content for social media.
• Ability to utilize software to produce a high-quality video stream of various City organized meetings and events.
• Provide support for audio-visual equipment such as cameras, microphones, switchers, etc.
• Plans and performs video post-production tasks including reviewing footage, editing, and making editorial decisions, audio adjustments, etc. before uploading.
• Creating video packages to be uploaded and dispersed to the public.
• Understand cabling and wiring to integrate technologies into AV systems.
• Performs any related tasks as required.

Preferences:

• Considerable knowledge of the City’s organization and functions
• Considerable knowledge of the functions of the media/ability to develop relationships with the media
• Ability to analyze complex issues and develop reasonable solutions
• Ability to present information orally and write accurately and concisely
• Ability to present oneself effectively in public
• Active professional social media participant across all major social channels
• Proven experience and success in developing social media content and creating social media strategies for an organization, business, or institution
• Strong writing, editing, proofreading, analytical and project management skills
• Experience using Buffer or a similar social media management tool
• Experience using BoxCast or a similar tool
• Experience using codeRED or a similar tool
• Excellent production and editing skills
• Ability to clearly understand and respond to needs as communicated by other members of the team and other departments
• Understanding AV technologies and IT systems on a technical level

Salary Range: $38,000-$41,600

Minimum Requirements:

Requires a valid NC Driver’s license

Requires a bachelor’s degree in Communication, Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing, or related field and one year of related professional experience creating social media content across channels for an organization, company, or institution. Local government experience is preferred.