Job Purpose:
To develop, maintain, and execute a social media strategy for the NHL's Swiss social media channels on Instagram (NHLSchweiz) and Facebook (NHL) for the 2025/26 season.
The Social Manager will collaborate with the IMG team members, external freelancers and client stakeholders (e.g. Content, Design, Video) to maximise growth and engagement.
The right candidate will be expected to uphold and devise content best practices, identify new posting opportunities and contribute innovative ideas to ensure the client’s social output is best-in-class.
Job duties and responsibilities:
- Plan, research, and execute the launch and ongoing social media strategy for the client's Instagram and Facebook channels, in Swiss-German
- Manage internal and external stakeholders to ensure accounts have the necessary staffing and active live coverage around key sporting events.
- Manage the day-to-day social output across all accounts, working together to provide social copy, and eventually lead on posting.
- Ensure all social tasks and requests are completed professionally, on time and to a high-quality standard.
- Share knowledge with IMG team members and stakeholders to learn common lessons and achieve shared goals.
- Monitor performance and output to stay up to date with social trends and features.
- Proactively identify emerging opportunities within the social media space.
- Work closely with the IMG team to ensure social content is shared effectively, timely and engagingly.
- Observe current industry trends, market changes and competitor output to ensure IMG can capitalise on emerging opportunities.
- Identify Instagram collaboration opportunities with relevant Swiss-facing accounts and build relationships with account stakeholders.
- Virtually attend meetings to discuss, present and define both short and long-term content planning.
- Be prepared to report on the games in a mixture of as they happen, and first thing in the morning (07:00 - 09:00) so the fans get the latest news, highlights, and more, when they wake up (and to cover some key games, for example, the Stanley Cup Final).
- Creating an engaged community, talking to fans every day, and being the main point of contact for all localised queries that come in via social media – referring up where necessary.
- Develop a strong network of local influencers and creators who can be relied upon to reach new hockey fans across Switzerland, and other relevant territories and can be considered as part of the NHL’s wider marketing strategy.
- Be prepared to work flexible hours to ensure suitable coverage of the NHL’s regular season and postseason.
Desired Behaviours & Qualifications:
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively and individually during live coverage, especially in European hours, and late American (ET) hours.
- Time-management and planning skills, with a proven ability to work to tight deadlines and prioritise multiple tasks.
- Strong creative skills and the initiative to constantly seek to improve IMG's social presence.
- A keen eye for detail and the ability to proofread, edit and fact-check stats-based copy both quickly and efficiently.
- Confidence to discuss, plan and give feedback to both the internal leadership team and external partners.
- Minimum of three years of professional experience in Social Media (or similar roles) preferred.
- Excellent experience in creating social-first vertical video that delivers performance on Instagram Reels both in terms of videos views and engagements
- Strong knowledge of Social Media trends and specific best practices for major platforms.
- Strong experience with Adobe Creative Cloud / Photoshop / Microsoft Teams / Microsoft Office.
- Strong knowledge of the NHL / wider hockey news cycle, including trade, key events, fan trends across Europe and North America and user preferences.
- Strong knowledge of Swiss and North American pop culture and the history and legacy of hockey and the NHL.
- Knowledge of social media reporting tools and native platforms to ensure key metrics are reported and new features are utilised.
- Ability to write and speak fluently in English and Swiss-German is essential.