Web & Social Media Engagement Specialist in Providence, Rhode Island at United Way of Rhode Island

United Way of Rhode Island

Job Description

Web & Social Media Engagement Specialist

Incumbent: Vacant

United Way of Rhode Island has stood alongside the people of Rhode Island for nearly 100 years—connecting neighbors, mobilizing resources, and driving solutions to our state’s most pressing challenges. As we approach our next century of service, our Strong Rhode Island strategic framework carries that legacy forward with focus, humility, and determination.

Our vision is that every Rhode Island family is economically stable, with access to opportunity, support, and the power to shape their future. Our mission is to invest in community-led solutions that build economic stability, support strong families, and drive racial equity so every Rhode Islander can thrive.

We organize our work around a clear goal: to ensure every Rhode Island family is economically stable and thriving. Strong Families is our North Star, and it is supported by two strategic enablers—Strong Nonprofits and a Strong United Way—with equity embedded throughout. We define family broadly: relatives, chosen family, friends, neighbors, and the support systems that help people meet today’s needs and build tomorrow’s opportunities.

We use the ALICE framework (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) to reveal the economic and community conditions of people who are struggling financially and to drive the change needed to create financial stability. Nearly one in three Rhode Island households earns above the federal poverty level but still cannot afford essentials like housing, childcare, food, transportation, and healthcare. These are the neighbors—childcare workers, retail staff, healthcare aides—who hold our communities together but live one emergency away from crisis.

We center racial equity because race still shapes who has access to opportunity in Rhode Island. These gaps are not accidental—they stem from long-standing policies and practices. We also recognize that many people face compounded disadvantages connected to sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income, and other factors. By centering racial equity and working to change the systems that hold people back, we aim to remove barriers and expand opportunity for everyone.

Learn more at unitedwayri.org

The Web & Social Media Engagement Specialist is UWRI’s lead for digital presence, social media, and online community — the person who makes sure UWRI is visible, conversational, and quick to respond across digital and social channels. This role owns UWRI’s website, social media strategy and community management, paid digital/social advertising, and the digital performance dashboard, co-creating story-driven content with the Content Strategist & Storyteller and keeping production timelines aligned with the Organizational Experience & Account Manager.

This role also closes several gaps by serving as a key partner in advocacy and rapid-response (serving as MarComm’s liaison to Policy and owning the rapid-turn protocol for action alerts, legislative moments, and crisis posting), recurring promotion of 211 and the ADRC, digital amplification for the Alliance for Nonprofit Impact (ANI) and grantee partners, implementation of a new text/SMS platform, and digital promotion of volunteer and VITA opportunities. Reports To: Director, Marketing & Communications.

• Execute daily/weekly website content updates: page edits, image replacements, blog posts, event listings, and staff bios.
• Implement basic SEO practices — meta descriptions, alt text, title tags, heading structure, and internal linking — using a standard checklist.
• Monitor website health (broken links, form functionality, page load speed) and escalate technical issues to IT.
• Maintain the web content calendar in coordination with the Organizational Experience & Account Manager and ensure web content follows UWRI brand and voice standards.

• Own social media strategy, content cadence, and platform administration (e.g., Hootsuite or similar); develop and maintain the social media content calendar across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
• Co-create story-driven content with the Content Strategist & Storyteller, translating narrative input into platform-ready posts.
• Monitor all social media platforms for comments, messages, mentions, and reviews; respond to engagement within target response times, and escalate complex issues, complaints, or potential crises to the Director.
• Track and report engagement metrics — response time, sentiment, volume, follower growth, and top conversation themes — and proactively identify community trends and opportunities.

• Manage paid digital and social ad buys, executing the audience segmentation strategy stewarded by the Director.
• Own Google Analytics and the digital performance dashboard; produce monthly engagement and web/SEO reports (traffic, top pages, search impressions, click-through rates, SEO checklist completion) with recommendations for the Director.

• Serves as MarComm’s liaison to the Policy team and own the rapid-turn protocol for action alerts, legislative moments, and crisis posting — the reason this work can move in hours, not days.
• Escalate complex issues, complaints, or potential crises to the Director per the team’s crisis communications protocol.

• Maintain a recurring promotional cadence for 211 and the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) so Rhode Islanders know these resources exist and how to use them.
• Provide day-to-day digital amplification of grantees, Alliance for Nonprofit Impact (ANI) members, and partner work, supporting ANI member acquisition and retention through digital channels.

• Lead implementation of UWRI’s text/SMS platform, including opt-in/consent practices and integration with email and donor management systems.
• Digitally promote volunteer opportunities and VITA services as both a service offering and a community engagement story, in partnership with program teams.

• Partner with the Organizational Experience & Account Manager on the team’s shared intake and six-month calendar so digital and social content is planned for, not last-minute.
• Receive story input from the Content Strategist & Storyteller for social content and direct the Marketing & Production Specialist’s execution of social graphics against the content calendar.

Every UWRI employee utilizes the JEDI Pathways Framework to identify and commit to professional growth and development. In this role, that includes:

• Develop and implement a personalized JEDI Growth Plan with your supervisor that establishes baselines and tracks growth across the three JEDI domains, two spheres of influence (interpersonal and within UWRI/sociopolitical systems), and your level of practice (Emerging, Developing, Practicing).
• Complete the annual JEDI self-assessment honestly and use it to identify priorities for ongoing learning and growth.
• Participate in annual JEDI training, monthly learning and reflection opportunities, and at least one quarterly teach-back of a JEDI learning experience.
• Engage with UWRI JEDI initiatives such as the Equity Challenge, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), the Heritage and Professionals group, and the Culture, Equity and Strengths Committee (CES).
• Participate in community, state, or national JEDI growth opportunities (including United Way Worldwide) as relevant to your role.
• As a manager-tier role with significant influence over team systems, standards, and creative or production direction—even without direct reports—apply the “Within UWRI & Sociopolitical Systems” sphere of the JEDI Pathways Framework to your area of ownership (e.g., brand systems, production and process systems), in addition to interpersonal practice.

Every member of Team United is expected to embody and act in alignment with our five core values. These values shape how we treat callers, how we support one another, and how we show up for and with the community.

In addition to the responsibilities outlined above, your role includes consistently showing up in ways that demonstrate the UWRI values and the aligned JEDI orientations. A successful Web & Social Media Engagement Specialist builds and grows foundational skills across all three domains of the UWRI JEDI Pathways Framework, grounded in our core values. Examples of how the values and orientations come alive day to day in this role:

• Post and respond quickly during advocacy or crisis moments — even when the content is uncomfortable — prioritizing transparency and accuracy over silence or over-caution.
• Raise concerns when a request for rapid-response content risks accuracy, dignity, or community trust, even under time pressure, and propose an alternative that still meets the moment.

• Fact-check rapid-response and advocacy content before posting, and be transparent about what is known, unknown, and evolving during a fast-moving situation.
• Clearly distinguish paid/sponsored content from organic content, and report engagement metrics honestly — including when results don’t meet expectations.

• Co-create content with the Content Strategist & Storyteller and align production timelines with the Organizational Experience & Account Manager — treating digital execution as a shared system, not a silo.
• Build a working relationship with the Policy team so advocacy rapid-response is a practiced partnership, not a cold handoff during a crisis.

• Apply accessibility standards (alt text, captions, plain language) consistently across web, social, and SMS content.
• Ensure digital amplification reaches grantees and ANI members across Rhode Island’s diverse communities — not just those with existing digital capacity — and use the text/SMS platform to reach community members without reliable internet or social media access.

• Stay current on platform changes, algorithm shifts, and digital advertising practices, and adjust strategy accordingly.
• Debrief on rapid-response and advocacy posts — what worked, what didn’t — and use community feedback (sentiment, comments, trends) to improve future engagement.
• Implement 70/20/10 activities in your annual Goal & Growth plan, including personal and team reflections, individual and shared learning, and integration of learning into practice.

• Social media platform management and scheduling tools (e.g., Hootsuite or similar), including community management and engagement response.
• Paid digital and social advertising, including audience segmentation and campaign optimization.
• Google Analytics and digital performance dashboards; basic SEO and CMS website management.
• Advocacy and issue-based communications, including crisis communication protocols and rapid-response content development.
• Text/SMS platform administration, including opt-in/consent practices and CRM/email integration.
• Bridgespan competencies: Driving for Results; Customer/Stakeholder Focus; Functional/Technical Expertise.

• Experience managing social media platforms and content calendars for an organization or brand.
• Experience with paid digital/social advertising and analytics/reporting tools.

• Experience with advocacy, issue-based, or crisis communications.
• Experience with SMS/text messaging platforms and basic website CMS administration.

Salary: competitive, commensurate with relevant experience and skills, and within the budgeted range of $58,000 - $80,000.

Benefits: comprehensive benefits package for those meeting agency threshold, including healthcare, dental, and vision coverage; flexible spending account; retirement match; and more.

Work–life balance: 37.5-hour standard workweek; if you meet the agency benefit threshold, you annually earn prorated paid leave, floating holidays, personal days, and sick days. Workflow design includes time for reflection, learning, and unpredictable tasks.

Learning & development: individual and collective programs supporting organizational and career growth, including CliftonStrengths® by Gallup, the JEDI Pathways Framework, AIRS certification, and ongoing learning offerings.

Reasonable accommodations are available and can be requested at any time during the hiring process or employment. The role-specific demands below describe typical working conditions for this position.

Primarily desk- and screen-based work managing multiple digital channels simultaneously; frequent context-switching between planned content, real-time community engagement, and rapid-response needs.

Social media platform administration, content scheduling, analytics/reporting, basic website updates, and digital ad management.

Standard business hours, with regular evening/weekend monitoring for community engagement response times and on-call availability during legislative session, advocacy moments, or crisis events.

Moderate to high — requires composure when responding to negative comments, advocacy moments, or crisis situations in real time, and the ability to switch quickly between planned content and urgent response.

United Way of Rhode Island is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; LGBTQ+ individuals; people with disabilities; and people with lived experience of the issues we work to address.

This job description is intended to convey the essential functions of this position. It is not an exhaustive list of skills, duties, responsibilities, or working conditions associated with the role, and it may evolve as the needs of the community and the organization change.