Social Media Content Creator

Title:
Social Media Content Creator

Location:

Vienna, VA (Hybrid)
Pay Rate:
Open W2 options
Position Type:
Contract

The Social Media team is seeking a Social Media Content Creator for a 6-month contract to concept, capture, edit and produce organic social video content for You Tube Shorts, Tik Tok and Instagram Reels. This role will focus on educational content delivered in an engaging, social-first way, leveraging real-time trends and native social conventions.

The contractor will help us create quicker-turn organic content, informed by social search optimization (SSO) and answer engine optimization (AEO), to increase the organization’s discoverability across social search, large language models and AI Overviews.

The contractor will be responsible for the full production process, including generating content ideas, shooting and editing in alignment with brand standards, and is expected to produce 10–15 native videos per month

• Plan, shoot, edit and deliver publish-ready short-form videos (10–15 native videos per month) for You Tube Shorts, Tik Tok and Instagram Reels, with a focus on educational, social-first content.
• Work collaboratively with Creative and Strategy teams to develop concepts for approval, understand brand standards and align with the regulatory landscape.
• Tailor every video to the channel, including adjusting for pacing, hooks, framing, on-screen text, audio and tone.
• Create cut-downs and social-first adaptations of existing long-form video assets, rewriting the hook, pacing and payoff so each piece stands on its own.
• Capture original footage, including filming, lighting, sound, and on-camera or voiceover elements as needed, and handle editing, captions, color and sound design.
• Casting, location scouting and budgeting of native content shoots.
• Design, create and optimize You Tube thumbnails.
• Apply brand voice, visual standards and accessibility best practices (captions, alt text and audio description where applicable) to all content.

• Build SSO- and AEO-informed videos by shaping topics, hooks, spoken language, on-screen text, titles, descriptions and captions around the real questions our audience is asking.
• Use trend, keyword and platform insights (for example, You Tube Analytics) to inform content ideas and refine what we make next.
• Stay current on platform trends, formats and algorithm changes, and bring new ideas to the team.
• Review performance data such as views, retention, shares and engagement, and apply the learnings to future content.

• Partner with Social Media and Creative teams to align on topics, priorities and review feedback.
• Work within established review and approval processes, including compliance, and incorporate feedback quickly to keep content timely.
• Meet monthly volume and quality expectations while maintaining speed and brand consistency.

• 2+ years of experience producing short-form social video for brands, with a portfolio of published work for Tik Tok, Instagram Reels and/or You Tube Shorts.
• Demonstrated ability to handle the full production process, including shooting, lighting, audio, editing, captions and finishing.
• Proficiency with professional video editing tools (Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, or similar) and the ability to design basic graphics and thumbnails (for example, Photoshop).
• Strong understanding of platform-native best practices, formats, trends and algorithm behavior across You Tube Shorts, Tik Tok and Instagram.
• Ability to turn educational or informational topics into clear, engaging, entertaining short-form stories.
• Effective writing skills for hooks, scripts, on-screen text, titles and captions.
• Bachelor's degree in…