Content Creator & Strategist

Columbus Crew Overview:

Columbus Crew is the first club in Major League Soccer. The Crew is operated by The Edwards Family and Haslam Sports Group. The Club has won three MLS Cup championships in 2008, 2020 and 2023, one Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2002, as well as MLS Supporters’ Shield titles in 2004, 2008 and 2009, Campeones Cup in 2021 and Leagues Cup in 2024. The 2024 campaign is the Crew’s 29th season in MLS as well as the Club’s third full season at Lower.com Field. The 2024 season will also see the return of Crew 2, 2022 MLS NEXT Pro Champions. Columbus Crew 2 play at Historic Crew Stadium, MLS’s first soccer specific stadium.

Position Summary:
The Columbus Crew is looking to add the newly designed role of Content Creator & Strategist to join its growing Marketing & Brand Strategy Department. We are seeking a positive, fun, innovative and collaborative social media creator to develop content that will help grow our fanbase, drive revenue, and continue to elevate the Crew’s overall brand and online presence nationally and internationally.

The Content Creator & Strategist will work closely with the Senior Director of Brand Strategy & Innovation, Social Media Manager and Sr. Marketing Manager to lead planning and execution of brand and fan marketing and revenue initiatives for The Crew. Their top priority will be working on content that resonates and engages the Crew’s supporters as well as intrigues and introduces future fans to the Club.

This role will serve as the Club’s ‘trend forecaster’ and constantly ideates and creates new content around Brand tentpole Moments– including lifestyle content such as fashion, music, gaming, travel and more. The Creator will build and execute a comprehensive content strategy aimed at thoughtfully engaging and growing key fan segments. The Content Creator & Strategist will work closely with the Business Intelligence team to lead the Club’s online fan journey orchestration process with the goal of developing 360-degree profiles of our fans and using personas and segments to effectively drive fandom and maximize revenues.

This role will focus on ideating and, at times, producing engaging short-forms videos and other emerging content to engage with fans and future fans across social media platforms (with a focus on TikTok and Instagram). This role will focus on optimization of social media platforms with an emphasis on leveraging data and analytics to drive current and future-focused growth strategies.

This position reports to the Senior Director of Brand Strategy and will capture and create content that supports both the soccer and business side, including but not limited to community relations, corporate partnerships, ticketing, youth soccer, grassroots, etc. The ideal candidate will have a growth mindset and a curiosity for pushing the boundaries in the world of social media with a knack for staying on the front foot of online trends and best practices.

Position Duties:

• Collaborate in ideating, producing and posting content to the Crew’s social media platforms.
• Create compelling multimedia content during real-time events, including matches and club events. This includes at times covering video and/or photo.
  Collaborate with members of the social/digital and integrated marketing teams to align on content strategies with overall marketing objectives.
• Closely monitor channel and content performance– including engagement, impressions and follower growth to inform day-to-day content creation.
• Develop competitive best practices and processes in social marketing and create benchmarks.
• Identify opportunities to use social technologies to enhance the overall marketing mix.
• Collaborate with team members on a data-capture strategy and execution.
• Build digital strategy to optimize ticket sales and other revenue streams.
• Ensure brand consistency across owned digital channels.
• Brainstorm new and innovative growth strategies and provide recommendations to leadership.
• Champions a segmented digital fan experience and advises on messaging architecture.
• Other duties as assigned.

Specific Job Knowledge, Skill and Ability:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, social and digital media, video content production or related field preferred.
• At least 2+ years previous experience working in a sports team or brand/ agency environment.
• High attention to detail with strong organizational and planning skills.
• Strong copywriting skills.
• Technical and strategic understanding of current and emerging digital and social media platforms (e.g., X/Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, LinkedIn, etc.).
• Experience in strategic development and execution across social media platforms.
• Strong analytics skills.
• Passion for sports and global knowledge of the sport of soccer and MLS not required, but a plus.
• Strong ability to establish meaningful relationships with various internal and external stakeholders, including but not limited to the team’s soccer and business leadership, major league soccer and other agencies and partners.
• Ability to work all matches, home and away, and nights and weekends (note: this role is not required to travel to all away matches, but will be traveling to some away matches).
• Perform other related duties as assigned.
  
  

Additional attributes:

• Possesses a team-first mindset and emphasizes relationships and collaboration.
• Has an eagerness to learn and ask questions.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Displays sound judgment in decision making, including an understanding of when to elevate conversations to supervisors and additional soccer and business personnel.
• Overall knowledge a vast array of digital and social media platforms.    
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office software.
• Proficiency in programs such as Adobe InDesign preferred, proficiency in Adobe Photoshop a plus.
• Prior experience and proficiency in Content Management software a plus.
• Creative experience is required, including video production, photography and graphic design.
• Experience in the field of sports photography and photo editing. 
• Extensive camera, lens, and lighting knowledge.
• Professional working knowledge of the Adobe Suite of products including Adobe Premiere and After Effects 
• Ability to work in a professional environment.
• Exceptional writing ability.
• Ability to maintain confidential information.
• Ability to multitask and meet tight deadlines.
• Strong project and time management skills – people, projects, delegating responsibility and more.
• Individual must be detail-oriented and a self-starter.