Writer​/Digital Content Specialist

Job Summary

The University of South Carolina’s Division of Marketing is seeking a Writer/Digital Content Specialist. Working with the director of audience engagement, the writer and digital content specialist is a key contributor to owned content and works to establish and maintain best practices for email marketing. Writes articles for owned media channels, including the USC Today faculty/staff email and others. Helps to coordinate and maintain a vibrant content calendar for USC’s owned newsletters following brand guidelines, best practices and institutional priorities.

Ensures adherence to consistent messaging, university style and formatting of stories. Writes for all print and digital publications as assigned, bringing a commitment to engaging and informative storytelling and a passion for sharing the university’s key messaging to all audiences.

Minimum required education and experience:
Requires a bachelor’s degree in a job-related field and 3 or more years of job-related experience, which may be substituted by an equivalent combination of job-related certification, training, education, and/or experience.

• Bachelor’s degree in public relations, marketing, journalism, writing, English, media arts, communications or related field.
• Five years experience in creating online communications and interacting with audiences online.
• Strong writing, editing and verbal communications skills.
• Proficiency with content management systems, email marketing and social media.
• Project management experience.
• Demonstrated experience at managing multiple projects under tight deadlines.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and a passion for aligning brand standards, organizational goals and audience needs.

• Excellent writing, communications and organizational skills.
• Understanding of digital publishing in three key areas: web, email and social media.
• Proven planning, time management and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work in a rapid-response, team environment.
• A desire to develop professionally and keep abreast of developing trends in communications is required.
• Demonstrated ability to develop concepts and write copy in a variety of styles.
• Ability to edit for style, clarity and adherence to brand standards and to proofread with skill and accuracy.
• Work experience in a higher education setting is preferred but not required.
• Capable of writing for print, web, social media and video.
• Able to rewrite text from other sources and produce text that reflects professional standards of content marketing and attention to writing craft.

• Writing (35%) Write stories on a regular basis for university digital outlets and print publications, including magazines for alumni and faculty/staff, USC Today faculty/staff newsletter, sc.edu and other projects as required. Establish and maintain vital contact throughout the university community for the development of story ideas.
• Management & Oversight of USC Today (20%) Working with the director of audience engagement, help establish and maintain guidelines and best practices for the faculty/staff newsletter USC Today, an email newsletter for faculty and staff. Produce Wednesday edition of the newsletter. Serve as a proofreader for M‑W‑Fri editions.
• Manage Flow of Content in Basecamp (15%) Working with the director of audience engagement, keep the Basecamp content planning section up to date by checking on status of stories and moving content cards through the planning process as key tasks are completed. Pay special attention to content in the later stages of development in order to support development of the USC Today schedule.
• Web Story Approval & Management (15%) Work at the direction of the director of audience engagement to help enter stories into the CMS and to approve stories entered by others. Story review includes attention to key elements such as use and sizing of photos, SEO optimization, use of university style and appropriate use of tagging.
• Manage Inside Carolina Newsletter (10%) Working with the director of audience engagement, manage the Inside Carolina alumni newsletter. Management includes layout of three segmented…