Summary
Description
General Statement of Duties: Manages the digital presence of Montrose County divisions and offices through the use of all County websites, social media accounts, and digital advertising. This position will work with the Communications Director to provide digital communication strategy to the overall county communications plan to inform and educate the public, as well as provide a digital crisis communications plan. This position will focus on enhanced public engagement through the development, maintenance, and content creation of County websites. The position will be responsible for using innovative technologies to engage and monitor social media communication and statistical data in order to better understand Montrose County’s digital identity, impact, and reach.
Supervision Received: Works under the direction of the Communications Director and establishes methods and procedures for attaining specific goals and objectives and receives guidance in terms of broad goals.
Supervision Exercised: This position has no supervisory responsibilities.
Essential Functions: Any one position may not include all of the duties listed nor do the listed examples include all duties which may be found in positions of this class.
- Responsible for driving meaningful engagement with elected officials and division heads’ external audiences in a way that fuels growth and positive sentiment about the county. Develop and execute social media strategies to enhance the connection between the county and its residents, via the use of social media platforms and tools. Express and promote the County brand, goals, mission and policies.
- Responsible for immediate social media engagement with the public during breaking news and critical situations.
- Collaborate and coordinate with appropriate Elected Officials and Division Heads in order to collect factual information for dissemination via the multiple social media platforms and websites.
- Attend events and programs to obtain photos and/or video for social media content creation in order to heighten situational awareness, transparency as well as the County’s unique perspective.
- Respond as appropriate in a timely manner to comments and direct messages on social media apps.
- Knowledge of social media strategies, trends, and digital advertising tactics.
- Maintain consistent branding of all digital assets.
- Maintain Social Media Policy and advise internal clients of social media policy.
- Create and distribute digital analytics reports. Ensure that the County is keeping up with current analytic technology and apps. Record social media conversations (as appropriate) & analytical data concerning incidents related to the County.
- Create and develop written content in a simplistic, easy-to-understand format for all County websites in an on-going effort to educate, inform and direct the public to a variety of law enforcement related materials.
- Updates, development and maintenance of current websites as requested by Elected Offices and Staff.
- Develop security protocols to ensure all sites are up-to-date on versions and security measures to prevent unauthorized access.
- Manage contracts and domains for all County websites ensuring that security certificates are up-to-date as well as domains renewed in a timely manner.
- Troubleshoot website hosting problems at all times to ensure that county sites are not offline for an extended period of time.
- Work with a variety of software programs in order to create, edit, format and post photographs and/or video for the purpose of enhancing Montrose County’s social media presence.
- Responsible for graphic design and content creation for digital county presence and as assigned.
- Participate in planning and organization of county events countywide as needed.
- Create editorial calendars and social media postings schedules in sync with overall communications plan.
- Oversight of the design, development, and maintenance of the county’s intranet platform.
- Develop, deploy, and manage chatbot system on multiple websites, ensuring content aligns with organization goals and user needs.
- Ensure that digital content and platforms adhere to accessibility law CO House Bill 21-1110.
- Stay current with accessibility standards and best practices and update internal policies and procedures as needed.
- Coordinate with internal teams to gather updates, data, and key messaging for weekly videos.
- Develop and maintain the podcast’s editorial calendar and scheduling.
- Assist in crisis communication planning including digital message development, media relations strategies.
- Act as the primary backup for the County’s Public Information Officer (PIO) in the event of their absence or during times of heightened communication needs (e.g., during emergencies, crises, or special events).
- Regular and predictable attendance is required.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in digital/social media management/communications, journalism, public relations, or a related field. A minimum of five (5) years professional experience working with digital media may be substituted for completion of the Bachelor’s degree.
Experience: A minimum of three (3) years digital and social media management, internal and external communications and/or public/media relations experience. Web development, graphic design, photography, video, digital advertising.
Required Knowledge: In-depth understanding of social media apps, website maintenance and development, video creation, social networking, and social media analytics tools as well as digital advertising. Ability to interpret abstract ideas in pictorial, graphic and related illustrative forms. Knowledge of event, group and portrait photography.
Language Skills: Must have the ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing and the skill to organize materials and present information clearly and concisely in verbal and written form. Must be able to read, understand, and interpret complex documents. Must understand and follow verbal and written instructions. Must have proficient knowledge of the English language, proper grammar, punctuation and spelling in other oral and written communication and have understanding of current technical report and business correspondence writing techniques and methods. Must be able to read, comprehend and apply laws, rules, regulations, policies and standard operating procedures required for this position, as well as, technical reports, procedure documents and manuals. Must be able to make effective and persuasive presentation on complex topics to a wide variety of audiences.
Interpersonal Skills: Must have the ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with fellow employees, representatives of other agencies and organizations and members of the community. Must have a strong customer focus orientation and have the ability provide information, answering questions and taking messages. Must be able to accept interruptions in a polite and effective manner. Must have the ability to be an effective team member and maintain sensitive and confidential information. Must maintain appropriate professional boundaries in relationships with customer/clients and the general public.
Mathematical Skills: Must have the ability to work with basic mathematical concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
Reasoning Skills: Must be able to apply principles of logic and reasoning or scientific thinking to a wide range of intellectual and practical problems and work independently with minimal direction. Must be able to prioritize work and simultaneously manage multiple responsibilities at times under pressure of tight deadlines and emotional situations. Must have the skill to solve problems involving concrete and abstract variables in a variety of situations within established guidelines.
Office Technology/Computer Skills: Work requires advanced skills and knowledge in a large variety of approaches and systems, which affect the design and implementation of major programs, solutions for highly complex issues, and/or processes organization-wide. Independent judgment and decision-making abilities are necessary to apply technical skills effectively. Must have extensive experience in the full development cycle of a website, social media apps, digital advertising, graphic design, database manipulation and spread sheets with a high degree of accuracy. Must be able to learn County-specific software and programs. Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite to include video production, graphic design, photo editing and print content layout (Adobe InDesign, Premier Pro, Lightroom, Photoshop). Advanced web development experience with Content Management Systems (CMS) (WordPress), search engine optimized copywriting, security monitoring and maintenance, chatbot implementation analytics. Experience with CivicPlus and digital marketing is desirable.
Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. The employee frequently is required to sit and stand for long periods of time; use hands and fingers to handle or feel; and reach with hands or arms. The employee is required to stand, walk, climb or balance, twist, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. Must be able to respond to the customers’ needs and perform tasks requiring extensive hand and eye coordination. Dexterity of hands and fingers to operate a computer keyboard, mouse and other devices and objects. The employee must frequently lift and/or move objects up to 25. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus. Physical ability and mobility to drive a motor vehicle to and from field and meetings as required. Ability to navigate uneven terrain. Ability to work extended shifts and attend training and meetings outside of regularly scheduled hours and the ability to work in stressful situations.
Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This job operates primarily in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.
Special Requirements: Must possess and maintain a valid Colorado Driver’s License and satisfactory driving record. Highly organized, work independently with self-motivation, and meet strict guidelines. Able and willing to attend evening and weekend activities. Ability to respond immediately to critical situations when required (day, night, weekend, holiday).
Other Duties: Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
