Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Director of Social Media

🎯 Role Definition

The Director of Social Media is an experienced senior marketing leader responsible for defining and executing the organization's social media strategy across organic, paid, influencer and community channels. This role blends creative leadership, data-driven optimization, platform expertise (Meta, Instagram, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest), and cross-functional alignment with brand, product, PR, customer service and eCommerce teams. The Director of Social Media owns KPIs like reach, engagement, conversion, ROAS and lifetime value from social, manages budgets and external agency/creator relationships, and scales high-performing social programs that drive brand affinity and measurable business results.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Social Media Manager with proven cross-channel results
Content Strategy Lead / Social Strategist with team leadership experience
Performance Marketing Manager specializing in paid social

Advancement To:

VP of Marketing / Head of Digital Marketing
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
Head of Customer Experience or Head of Brand

Lateral Moves:

Director of Content / Creative Director
Director of Influencer Marketing
Director of Brand Communications

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and own a 12–24 month social media strategy aligned to corporate goals (brand awareness, demand generation, community building, social commerce), translating business objectives into measurable social KPIs, OKRs and quarterly roadmaps.
Lead, coach and scale a cross-functional social team (content creators, community managers, paid social specialists, social analysts), establish clear roles, career paths, hiring plans and performance metrics.
Build and manage the end-to-end content strategy: editorial calendar, content pillars, creative briefs, production workflows, repurposing and distribution plans to maximize reach and content ROI across channels.
Create and execute paid social investment strategy (Meta Ads, TikTok For Business, LinkedIn Ads, YouTube, X promoted posts), setting budget allocation, bid strategies, creative testing frameworks, and ROAS/CPA targets.
Design, implement and optimize an experimentation and A/B testing program for creative, copy, targeting, and attribution models to continuously increase engagement and conversion rates.
Oversee influencer and creator partnerships strategy: identify and prioritize partners, negotiate contracts and deliverables, develop creative co-creation programs, implement measurement and compliance processes.
Own community management strategy and operations: scalable moderation policies, escalation paths with customer service, proactive community nurturing, and playbooks for live events, AMAs and product launches.
Establish and maintain real-time social listening and reputation management using tools like Brandwatch, Sprinklr, Meltwater or Sprout Social; develop response frameworks and crisis communication plans.
Define and monitor a comprehensive social analytics framework (impressions, engagement rate, watch time, conversion lift, assisted conversions, LTV by channel), build dashboards (Looker, Tableau, Google Data Studio) and present actionable insights to executive stakeholders.
Partner with product, growth, and eCommerce teams to drive social commerce initiatives (shoppable posts, in-app checkout, partnerships with marketplaces) and integrate social metrics into funnel and LTV models.
Set and manage annual social budgets, procurement and vendor relationships (agencies, production houses, social tools), delivering predictable ROI and continuous cost optimization.
Lead cross-functional campaign planning for product launches and seasonal activations, aligning creative direction, PR, advertising, and measurement to ensure coherent omnichannel customer experiences.
Ensure brand voice, visual identity and content governance across all social channels by publishing brand guidelines, approval workflows and training for spokespeople.
Manage social advertising and organic channel compliance, privacy and data requirements (Meta Business Manager policies, FTC influencer disclosures, GDPR/CALOPPA considerations) and collaborate with legal/compliance teams.
Drive integration between social and CRM/marketing automation systems to enable targeted nurture, lifecycle messaging and retention campaigns powered by social signals.
Oversee creative production pipelines (in-house or agency), balancing speed and quality, backlog prioritization and sprint planning for recurring and campaign deliverables.
Negotiate and manage high-value partnerships and sponsorships with creators, publishers and platforms to amplify reach and secure premium placements.
Create executive-level reports and storytelling decks that translate social performance into business outcomes for C-suite and board reviews.
Build training programs and playbooks that upskill internal teams in social best practices, platform trends, creative brief writing and community engagement.
Monitor platform product changes, emerging features and competitive activity; evaluate new platforms and pilots (e.g., emerging short-form video apps, social audio) and lead go/no-go decisions.
Lead crisis and reputation management on social: develop scenarios, rapid response templates, and coordinate cross-functional incident response teams during brand or product issues.
Drive privacy-first measurement strategies (incrementality testing, server-side tagging, conversion APIs) to mitigate attribution challenges from platform and browser changes.
Champion diversity, equity and inclusion in creator sourcing, content representation and community policies to ensure authentic brand representation and mitigate brand risk.

Secondary Functions

Support cross-functional stakeholder requests for social insights and market/competitive analyses.
Contribute to the broader marketing strategy and roadmap by translating social trends and audience intelligence into product and campaign recommendations.
Participate in monthly/quarterly business reviews and strategic planning sessions with marketing, product and executive teams.
Mentor junior marketing leaders and contribute to recruitment and interview processes.
Maintain vendor evaluations and pilot new technology (creative automation, social commerce tools, AI-assisted content workflows).
Coordinate with corporate communications on executive social presence, thought leadership programs and crisis comms alignment.
Implement knowledge-sharing programs across teams to capture best practices, templates and case studies for reuse.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Social media strategy development across organic, paid and influencer channels.
Paid social advertising expertise (Meta/Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, X, YouTube) including campaign setup, targeting, bidding and optimization for ROAS/CPA.
Analytics and measurement: proficiency with Google Analytics 4, UTM frameworks, attribution models, incrementality testing and dashboarding tools (Looker, Tableau, Data Studio).
Social listening and reputation tools (Brandwatch, Sprout Social, Meltwater, Hootsuite) and ability to derive narrative insights.
Content production and creative oversight: briefing, storyboard review, video editing fundamentals and directing creators for short-form and long-form formats.
Influencer and creator marketing: contract negotiation, KPIs, disclosure compliance and performance-based partnerships.
Social commerce and platform integrations (Shopify, Facebook Shops, TikTok Shop, in-app checkout).
CRM and marketing automation integrations for lifecycle campaigns and retargeting.
Budgeting and P&L management for multi-channel paid social programs.
A/B testing and experimentation frameworks for creative, audience and funnel optimizations.
Familiarity with privacy and compliance requirements impacting social (GDPR, CCPA, platform ad policies).
Proficiency with content planning and workflow tools: Asana, Trello, Airtable, Monday.com, ContentStudio.
Strong reporting skills: building executive dashboards, presenting insights and recommending next steps.

Soft Skills

Strategic leadership: translate vision into tactical plans and measurable outcomes.
Cross-functional collaboration: align product, PR, CX and sales teams to social objectives.
Excellent written and verbal communication, storytelling and presentation skills.
Creative judgment and aesthetic sensibility for brand-appropriate content.
Data-driven decision making and critical thinking to interpret analytics and prioritize tests.
People management and talent development with experience coaching managers and creatives.
Project management and operational rigor to run complex campaign launches.
Crisis temperament: calm, decisive and communicative under pressure.
Negotiation and vendor management skills.
Adaptability and curiosity to stay ahead of platform changes and cultural trends.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Communications, Journalism, Advertising, Business, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Marketing, MBA, or advanced certification in digital marketing/social media strategy.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Marketing
Communications
Journalism
Advertising
Media Studies
Business Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

7–12+ years in social media, digital marketing or related disciplines, with at least 3–5 years in a senior or managerial role.

Preferred:

Demonstrated experience leading teams of 5–15+ and managing cross-channel paid media budgets (often $500k–$5M+ annually).
Track record of scaling social programs, driving measurable growth in engagement, acquisition and revenue via organic and paid channels.
Proven success in influencer and creator marketing campaigns, social commerce initiatives, and platform-first product launches.
Experience working with global or multi-market social strategies and localization best practices.