There is an exciting opportunity to join the Reform Radio team in Manchester as our new Content Strategist. We’re a growing Community Interest Company and award-winning radio station, dedicated to supporting young adults to access cultural opportunities and career pathways in the creative industries.

The ideal candidate will have significant experience in a leadership role within content creation, social media, or digital marketing, ideally in music, entertainment, or cultural industries, with a particular focus on YouTube. They’ll have bold and innovative ideas on how we can accelerate the reach and listenership of Reform Radio through better utilisation of video social channels and deep understanding of the key metrics for audience retention and community growth.

We are looking for someone with a well proven track record who can hit the ground running, designing, implementing and refining a strategy that will drive new revenue streams through increased audience and engagement. To do this they will manage and coordinate a small team, budget and pool of trusted freelancers, working across departments to pivot existing capacity and work in partnership to deliver on these goals. They will be full of creative ideas, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt, innovate, problem-solve and work to deadlines.

For the right candidate who exceeds targets, we foresee this role developing beyond the 1 year fixed term period.

If you’d like to chat about this opportunity, please contact Lewys, Head of Quality Assurance, on lewys@reformradio.co.uk or on 0161 806 0879. The job description and person specification are also available as an audio file, and we’re happy to accept applications in written format, audio or video.

About Reform Radio

Reform Radio is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation and DAB radio station that broadcasts the best in independent music, arts and culture from Manchester to the world. We use radio as a tool to engage young adults from across the North into high-quality creative training and to support them to build meaningful careers.

Some of our favourite stats from 2023/24:

We delivered 716 free creative sessions to a total of 580 participants.
We delivered Employment and Creative Skills training to 247 young adults.
With 86% progressing onto employment, education, training and volunteering.
We reached an online audience of 1.47 million.
519 DJs broadcast original shows across our station.

Our Vision: To live in a world where all young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Our Values: Creativity, Community and Collaboration.

Resources:

Reform Radio Round Up 2023-24
Reform Radio Projects
Reform Radio Blog

Job Details

Hours: 40 hrs/week – This role is a fixed term 1 year contract with a variable working pattern, between the hours of 9am – 6pm, Monday – Friday, with flexibility for evenings and weekends.

Salary: £40,000 a year

Annual Leave: 28 days + your birthday

Pension: Optional Nest Pension scheme

Location: This role is mainly office based, with some place based work.

Address: Reform Radio, Bonded Warehouse, Lower Byrom St, Manchester.

Role Description

The Content Strategist will lead our Content Team;

Create and deliver Content Strategy – Develop a comprehensive content strategy that cements Reform Radio as a globally significant music/radio brand and groundbreaking social enterprise, whilst developing and growing new revenue streams.
Collaborate with other teams – To develop and evolve a strategy around pre-existing organisation activity with a focus on our radio station and our work as a small independent production company making video podcast content.
Managing a team and budget to meet strategy goals – Working directly with other departments to achieve goals and managing an internal team and pool or freelancers.
Accelerate growth of channel views & subscribers – KPIs will be set every six months with expectation of increasing reach and engagement across all content channels.
Create engaging titles & thumbnails – Work with the Content Team to improve SEO and engagement of video titles and thumbnails and improve search rankings, and regularly update older videos based on changing search trends.
Utilise YouTube’s algorithm to grow engaged viewers – Implement tactics to increase viewer retention, likes, comments, shares, and overall engagement
Traffic Management of other social channels – Work with the other teams to manage other social media channels to align with overall brand strategy, with increased importance of short video, especially on TikTok to drive audiences to YouTube.
Traffic Management of website – Work with teams and our external developer to better use our website to help drive marketing and organisational goals, with a focus on SEO.
In-depth data analysis and reporting – Track and analyse Analytics across all platforms to assess performance and identify opportunities for optimisation. Provide detailed reports on channel growth, audience demographics, and key engagement metrics.
Research and brief in data driven topics and themes – Suggest trending and topical themes specifically for social channels and stay ahead of platform trends, ensuring content strategies are cutting-edge and audience-focused.
Identify and execute monetisation opportunities – for content, branded partnerships, and platform-specific ad revenue.
Upload & schedule content – Working with team to ensure all content is uploaded and scheduled on time with correct packaging and partner requirements
Community management – Managing the comments sections and community tab on YouTube, posting daily content to engage our audience and re-engage past viewers
Repurposing content – Identify opportunities to repurpose old content across different platforms.
Use a variety of technical skills and software to complete production, including Adobe Suite (Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Lightroom) and Canva
Complete all tasks and follow all systems relating to the role on time and to a high standard
Flexibility to occasionally work evenings and weekends
To complete all necessary admin required such as risk assessments and consent forms
To follow all safeguarding procedures, policies, organisational systems and complete training as required
Work on Trello, Google Drive, Calendar, Gmail, and Google Sheets
Attend various department and organisational meetings and training
To support the organisation’s overall aims, values and outcomes.

Person Specification

Essential skills, knowledge and qualities required:

Experience at a senior level successfully implementing a cross organisational content strategy that led to new or increased revenue streams.
A proven track record of developing and executing data-driven content strategies that drive audience growth and engagement.
Experience in content monetisation, branded partnerships, and revenue-generating initiatives.
To have grown a successful YouTube channel previously and have strong evidence of this.
A deep understanding of YouTube platform algorithms, SEO, key performance metrics, and proficiency with YouTube Studio Analytics and other related tools.
A good understanding of Reform Radio’s other key social media platforms and different audiences and tone of voice of each.
Senior experience of managing people and budgets and prioritising time and resources correctly.
Experience collaborating with other teams and working across skills sets and departments to achieve shared goals.
Traffic Management experience across multiple platforms.
Proven experience behind the camera and editing of video and social content
A thorough understanding of Trello or similar project management software to manage teams, communication and work flows.
SEO and content writing experience.
A thorough understanding of cross platform analytics, utilising a test and measure approach, monitoring the effectiveness of different strategies and implementing changes based on results.
Ability to work under pressure and to deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Strong organisational and communication skills and impeccable attention to detail.
Experience of reacting to constant changes in priorities and reorganising workload to meet changing deadlines.
Ability to respond to creative briefs and adapt to feedback.
A good knowledge and experience of working with Adobe Suite’s Premiere Pro
Ability to identify and drive new creative approaches to content creation
Knowledge of and interest in content creation and current social media trends

Desirable skills, knowledge and qualities required:

Knowledge and experience using and working with wordpress and SEO of websites.
Long form video podcasting production and distribution expertise.
Design skills and experience
Experience using Adobe Suite’s Photoshop and Lightroom
Experience of following protocol, policies and legislation
Experience of using; Google Drive, Email, Calendar or (or other data management systems)
Experience of working with young adults or those aged 18 – 30

For all paid roles at Reform Radio we require you undertake an Enhanced DBS check.

How To Apply

Closing dates for applicants: 14th March with interviews the week of 24th of March

Contact details: lewys@reformradio.co.uk

We’re asking applicants to send the following in either written, video or audio format:

A CV (max 2 pages/ 3 minutes)
A cover letter (max 2 pages/ 3 minutes)

Including:

What relevant experience do you have?
What do you think you would bring to this role and to the organisation?
Why is the work of Reform Radio important to you?
Why is this role attractive to you?

Access Support

If you have any access requirements or if you are facing barriers in applying that we can help remove then please get in touch.

Reform Radio is registered as a Disability Confident Employer (Level 2) which means under the Disability Confident Scheme we will guarantee an interview for people with a disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) who can demonstrate they meet the person specification essential criteria within the job description. If you meet the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 please let us know in your application.

Other useful support – https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work

Please provide two references. Please note that we will not contact references unless an offer is made.
Please complete our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form here (optional)