University of Rochester - Rochester, NY
posted 3 months ago
The Senior Communications Specialist plays a pivotal role in advancing key strategic initiatives and enhancing the University's reputation while engaging and informing a diverse range of stakeholders. Reporting to the AVP for Communications and Strategy, this position is an essential member of a strategic communications team within University Marketing and Communications. The Senior Specialist collaborates with various business partners across the institution to amplify the University's mission, strategic priorities, initiatives, and its research and education brand. This role encompasses strategic communications planning, developing messaging frameworks for constituents, content development, and execution across various channels, as well as audience engagement on digital platforms. In terms of strategy, the Senior Communications Specialist works closely with leaders and senior communications staff in key academic and administrative units to identify and refine communications goals for enterprise strategic initiatives. Based on these defined goals, the specialist develops and executes audience-first marketing and communications plans that focus on objectives, audiences, channels, and measurements for success. The role also involves creating messaging frameworks for target audiences and identifying appropriate channels with associated metrics to deliver content effectively. Content creation is another critical aspect of this position. The Senior Specialist identifies narratives that showcase strategic initiatives, programs, and key priorities that advance the University's reputation as a global leader in higher education. This includes developing and curating a range of high-quality content that resonates with diverse audiences, such as articles, blog posts, videos, infographics, social media posts, digital campaigns, and newsletters. The role also emphasizes connection and collaboration, serving as a point person for meaningful connections between University Communications and business partners across the institution. The Senior Specialist actively engages with various university departments, academic units, research centers, and administrative offices to identify content opportunities, gather subject matter expertise, and ensure that content aligns with institutional goals. Coordination with communications professionals across the University is essential to ensure cohesive content management, including those who manage e-newsletters, publications, blogs, social media channels, and websites. Analytics and assessment are integral to the role, utilizing analytics tools to evaluate metrics such as email open rates, click-through rates, web sessions, SEO-informed storytelling performance, and social media engagement. The Senior Specialist applies analytical skills to refine content strategy and improve performance, delivery, and audience engagement. Additionally, the role ensures brand consistency by aligning all content with the university's brand guidelines, tone, and messaging, and creating brand guides and communications playbooks for the communications community to employ as needed.