Job Summary: 

Do you want to play a pivotal role in deepening the connection between the New Orleans metro area and its news? Verite, a Black-led nonprofit news organization, is seeking an Audience Engagement Specialist to join our newsroom team. As our Audience Engagement Specialist, you will share stories, spark conversations, build community, and bring the vibrant culture and critical issues of the New Orleans metro area to the forefront. Your innovative engagement strategies will not only grow our audience but ensure they become active participants in our journalistic journey. Help us make every story resonate more deeply in the hearts of our New Orleans community, turning passive readers into passionate advocates for impactful journalism. 

Responsibilities: 

A typical day in this role will involve coordinating with Verite’s editorial and leadership teams as well as employees of our parent organization, Deep South Today. You will be responsible for shaping Verite’s voice and personality in person and online—ultimately, your job is to help people find and connect with us and to build relationships once they do. 

In this role, you will: 

• Manage content creation and distribution on digital platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and other appropriate digital platforms.
• Lead engagement efforts by fostering active and meaningful two-way interactions with our audience through a combination of social media and direct outreach. Have ideas beyond in-person and digital efforts? We welcome them! 
• Collaborate with editorial team members as their roles intersect with yours. For instance, sharing when stories resonate on certain platforms or filming a reporter talking about their story for a TikTok post. 

A typical day will involve creating and scheduling content for our digital platforms and leading and executing in-person engagement efforts in and around New Orleans. Success in this role will be measured in numerous ways, including expanding our reach on different platforms and deepening the impact of our journalism. 

Qualifications and Traits: 

We are seeking someone with at least 2 years experience. The following are some of the things we’re looking for in our future team member, but we know not everyone will check every box. If you meet some of these qualifications but not all, and are willing to learn where you have experience gaps, please still apply. We look forward to getting to know you. 

• Experience with digital content creation and distribution tactics, particularly on social media. Preference will be given to those with this experience in a newsroom, specifically. 
• Experience with on-the-ground engagement and outreach efforts. 
• Experience with the various tools used by our team. Our website uses WordPress/Newspack, our newsletters are sent through Mailchimp, we manage our day-to-day work in Airtable, Slack, and Google Workspace products, we use tools like Subtext, Buffer, and Pushly for text messaging and distribution, and we rely on Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and Looker Studio for metrics and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience working independently on projects
• A collaborative attitude—you’re able to work well with others across teams and departments when needed
• Willingness and curiosity to learn new skills and tools when needed 
• Passion for our mission and for our community
• Ability to harness weekly posting analytics to shape content strategies, providing actionable insights to our newsroom and tailoring approaches to diverse audience segments. 
• Execute social media advertising, boosted posts, lead generation and Google Ad Grant management/strategy to promote stories and coverage. 

Compensation and Benefits 

This is a salaried, full time position with an annual pay of $60,000 or commensurate with experience. This is an in-person position that is expected to work daily with reporters and editors in the newsroom

All Verite employees are eligible for our benefits package, which includes: 

• 29 days of paid time off (PTO accrual) 
• 3 paid community service days 
• 1 day paid birthday leave 
• Medical, Dental and Vision insurance 
• Individual Retirement Account (IRA) 
• Professional development opportunities 

How to apply: 

Interested candidates should submit their application through https://veritenews.org/careers/audience-engagement-specialist/. 

We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, especially those from traditionally underrepresented communities, including women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and people with disabilities. A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Communications, Marketing, or Journalism is preferred but not required depending on job experience.  

If you have a question before applying, please reach out to us at dpenny@deepsouthtoday.org and we’ll do our best to answer promptl