Senior Social Media Strategist (Contract)

60-Day Practice Reset \& Capability Build

Engagement: Independent contractor

Location: Remote

Initial term: Approximately 60 days

Target start: Mid-September 2026

Expected commitment: Approximately 8–12 hours per week

Project fee: $18,000 fixed fee

Potential continuation: Limited fractional advisory support may be available following the initial engagement

About Yuit Communications

Yuit Communications is an independent, full-service advertising and communications agency headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, with a growing presence in Seattle.

Our capabilities span advertising and paid media, strategy, creative and brand development, public relations, web development, production, research, analytics, and measurement.

Yuit currently provides organic social media support to a group of established clients. As the agency continues to evolve, we are taking a deliberate look at what a modern, strategic social offering should look like inside an integrated agency.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Social Media Strategist to serve as Yuit's temporary senior social capability lead for approximately 60 days.

This is a practice-building role, not primarily a scheduling, caption-writing, or community-management role.

We need someone who can assess the work already underway, strengthen current client programs, improve how the agency uses social strategy and analytics, and help leadership determine what Yuit should offer in 2027\.

The Assignment

This engagement has two objectives:

1\. Strengthen and stabilize Yuit's current social work.

Review active client programs, identify strategic or operational gaps, improve quality and reporting, and make sure existing clients are supported during the transition.

2\. Help design Yuit's future social capability.

Evaluate what services Yuit should offer, which clients those services are appropriate for, how the work should be staffed and priced, and what systems and standards the agency needs to deliver social work consistently and profitably.

The right person must be able to evaluate both the quality of the work and the business model behind it.

What You'll Do

Assess the Current Practice

You'll review Yuit's active organic social programs, including areas such as:

• Client scopes and expectations
• Social strategies and content pillars
• Editorial and content-planning processes
• Creative quality and brand alignment
• Analytics and reporting
• Client participation and content inputs
• Organic and paid-media integration
• Roles across Client Services, Creative, Advertising and Project Management
• Account economics and delivery requirements
• Platform access, ownership and account security
• Documentation and institutional knowledge

You'll help leadership understand where the current practice is working, where it is vulnerable, and where the agency may be delivering work that is difficult to scale or sustain.

Strengthen Current Client Programs

For each active social account, you'll help clarify:

• What social is intended to accomplish
• Whether the current scope supports those objectives
• Immediate risks or missing information
• Needed improvements in strategy, content or reporting
• Appropriate client participation
• Recommended direction for 2027

You may participate in selected client planning conversations when helpful.

Design the Future Social Offering

You'll help Yuit determine which social services it should offer going forward.

Potential models may include:

• Social strategy and foundations
• Advisory and strategic oversight
• Selective managed social programs
• Social-native content capture and production
• Organic and paid-social integration

For recommended service models, you'll help define:

• The ideal client
• The problem the service solves
• Core deliverables
• What Yuit owns
• What the client owns
• Required client inputs
• Staffing requirements
• Pricing guardrails
• Margin considerations
• Qualification criteria
• Reporting and client cadence

Just as importantly, we want the consultant to help identify what Yuit should stop offering if a service cannot be delivered strategically, consistently, or profitably.

Build a Practical Social Operating System

The engagement should leave Yuit with repeatable tools and standards for areas such as:

• Social strategy
• Account and channel audits
• Audience definition
• Content pillars
• Editorial planning
• Quarterly planning
• Reporting and analytics
• Performance interpretation
• Organic and paid integration
• Quality assurance
• Account handoffs
• Platform access and offboarding
• Creator and freelancer management
• AI-assisted social workflows

You'll also help clarify the roles of Client Services, Project Management, Creative, Advertising, Operations, and outside creators or production partners.

Coach the Team

You'll provide focused guidance to Yuit team members on topics such as:

• Interpreting social performance
• Turning data into client recommendations
• Distinguishing strategy from channel execution
• Evaluating social-native creative
• Connecting organic insights to paid media and broader marketing strategy
• Using AI without creating generic, repetitive or off-brand content

What Success Looks Like

At the end of the 60-day engagement, Yuit should have:

• A clear assessment of its current social practice
• A strategic recommendation for each active social account
• Better visibility into the economics and operating requirements of the work
• Clearer roles across Client Services, Creative, Advertising and Project Management
• A practical social strategy and reporting framework
• Defined service models for 2027
• Pricing and client-qualification guardrails
• A clearer distinction between strategy, production and execution
• A repeatable minimum viable operating system for social
• A clear leadership recommendation regarding what Yuit should sell, stop selling and build next

The final recommendation should also help leadership determine whether the future model is best supported through fractional leadership, external specialists, or a future permanent hire.

Who We're Looking For

This is a senior strategy role.

Strong candidates will likely bring:

• Approximately 7–10\+ years of experience in social-media strategy
• Significant advertising or marketing-agency experience
• Experience overseeing multiple client brands
• Strong organic social strategy and editorial planning experience
• Strong analytics and reporting skills
• The ability to translate performance data into clear client recommendations
• Fluency in short-form video and social-native creative
• Experience working alongside paid-media and paid-social teams
• Experience presenting strategy directly to clients and senior stakeholders
• Experience developing repeatable processes, frameworks or operating standards
• Strong knowledge of Meta, Instagram, LinkedIn and evolving social-platform behavior
• The ability to connect social activity to larger marketing, communications and business objectives

Especially Valuable Experience

We would particularly value experience with:

• B2B or enterprise clients
• Regulated, public-sector or complex industries
• Internal client marketing teams
• Agency social-practice leadership
• Creator and freelance production networks
• Social-service pricing and profitability
• Organic and paid-social integration
• AI-assisted content and strategy workflows
• Building or repositioning a social service line

This Role Is Probably Not the Right Fit If Your Experience Is Primarily

• Scheduling and publishing posts
• Routine community management
• High-volume caption writing
• Influencer management without broader strategic responsibility
• Creator work without client or business strategy experience
• Consumer e-commerce social without meaningful agency or enterprise experience

We are looking for a senior strategist and practice builder, not simply additional execution capacity.

Working Relationship

The consultant will work most closely with Yuit's Director of Client Services, with regular executive checkpoints with the President.

The engagement will also involve selected collaboration with Creative, Advertising, Operations, account leaders, and project managers.

We expect approximately 8–12 hours of involvement per week, although the workload may vary by phase.

Regular availability during Alaska business hours is required for scheduled working sessions.

The consultant should surface risks, decisions, and recommendations clearly throughout the engagement rather than waiting until the final deliverable.

Compensation \& Potential Continuation

The initial 60-day engagement has a fixed project fee of $18,000.

Following the initial engagement, Yuit may elect to continue with limited fractional strategic support, anticipated at approximately 15–25 hours per month. Any continuation would be based on demonstrated need, the future service model, and mutual agreement.

Continuation is not guaranteed.

Confidentiality \& AI Use

This engagement will involve confidential Yuit and client information.

The selected contractor will be required to use Yuit-approved systems and comply with the agency's confidentiality, information-security and AI-use requirements.

Confidential agency or client information may not be entered into unapproved AI tools.

All frameworks, templates, and other work product created under the engagement will become Yuit property according to the contractor agreement.

How to Apply

Please submit:

• A brief introduction describing your agency and social-strategy experience
• Two or three examples demonstrating senior social strategy, analytics or program development
• At least one example of how you translated social performance into a meaningful client or business recommendation
• A brief example of a social program, team capability or agency practice you helped improve
• A short description of how you distinguish social strategy, content production and channel execution
• Your availability for a mid-September start
• Confirmation that you can support approximately 8–12 hours per week
• Confirmation that the $18,000 project fee works for you

Finalists will be invited to discuss a short hypothetical client situation.

We are interested in how you think, diagnose problems, and make recommendations. No unpaid speculative deck or presentation will be requested.

Professional references may be requested from finalists.

Pay: $175\.00 - $250\.00 per hour

Expected hours: 8\.0 – 12\.0 per week

Work Location: Remote