Social Media Specialist - Trending Content

At Tennis Channel, this Social Media Specialist helps bring the sport to life for millions of fans across every major social platform. As a publishing-first social media specialist, the position drives day-to-day content publishing across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, and YouTube during assigned coverage windows on both tournament and non-tournament weeks. The specialist ensures content is delivered with platform-appropriate captions, audio, creative formatting, and posting cadence.

The role also leads the user-generated content (UGC) sourcing program end-to-end, managing the workflow that identifies, secures, and prepares approved fan content for publication, with final rights and usage approvals remaining with the Senior Social Media Manager.

In addition, the position supports the Senior Social Media Manager's Weekly Trending Content Meeting by contributing trend-driven content ideas and helping execute approved trend-based initiatives. Success in this role requires daily collaboration with fellow social specialists, the Social Graphics Content Specialist, the Short-Form Video Producer Lead, and the Junior Content Editor & Publisher to ensure content is published efficiently and aligned with overall social strategy.

This role is onsite in our Santa Monica, CA office.

Core Responsibilities

Publishing & Platform Operations  (primary lane)

• Publish across IG, FB, TikTok, X, and YouTube during assigned coverage windows — manage the content calendar for that window, hit posting cadence targets, and operate inside the brand voice and visual standards the Senior Social Media Manager sets.
• Run live coverage publishing during tournaments within the assigned coverage window — match moments, scheduled posts, breaking-news beats, and tentpole pushes — under the Senior Social Media Manager's Tournament Coverage Plan.
• Receive hand-offs from the on-shift specialist and run the published content cycle through to the next hand-off — documented status update at end of the window (active matches, scheduled posts, items pending edits, open community threads, anything time-sensitive).
• Own captions, sound choices, hashtags, and platform-native styling on every piece published — across IG, FB, TikTok, X, and YouTube.
• QA every post before it goes live: fact check, score accuracy, grammar, brand voice, and platform fit. Escalate brand-tone, rights, or crisis calls up to the Senior Social Media Manager.
• Handle community management on posts published during the assigned coverage window — respond to comments, DMs, and mentions within the response-policy framework the Senior Social Media Manager maintains; flag rising issues.
• Flag organic posts that are strong boost candidates so the Senior Social Media Manager can pass them to the Paid Team.

Community Management & UGC  (secondary lane)

• Lead the UGC sourcing pipeline end-to-end: scan IG, FB, TikTok, X, and YouTube for high-quality user-generated tennis content — fan reactions, court-side captures, players' personal posts, partner moments, viral clips.
• Reach out to creators and rights holders, build relationships, and secure rights/usage on each piece sourced; route to the Senior Social Media Manager for final rights/usage approval per the established framework.
• Manage the repost cadence and credit standards across all five platforms — ensure every approved UGC piece publishes with the right context, attribution, and platform-native styling.
• Maintain a creator and contributor relationship roster: tennis-adjacent creators and fans worth ongoing engagement, with notes on what's worked and which relationships are warm.
• Travel to select tournaments to source UGC on the ground — moments captured by fans, players, partners, and sponsors during events — and to build creator relationships in person.
• Partner with the Senior Social Media Manager on community-management outreach (proactive owned engagement into trending tennis conversations) — surface high-signal opportunities and execute outreach the team approves.

Platform Expertise & Trends

• Support trending content execution across IG, FB, TikTok, X, and YouTube — bring trend ideas and UGC matches to the Senior Social Media Manager's Weekly Trending Content Meeting and own follow-through on what gets approved.
• Help execute trend-aligned posts the team approves to ship — captioning, sound choice, platform-native styling, and live publishing — partnering with the on-shift specialist, the Junior Content Editor & Publisher, and the Short-Form Video Producer Lead.
• Maintain a running view of what's trending on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts in the tennis ecosystem and adjacent culture; flag emerging formats, sounds, and creator-driven trends early.
• Stay current on platform mechanics — native publishing tools, schedulers, native repost features, attribution standards, rights-management tools, creator-program updates.

Content & Creative Direction

• Produce UGC-driven and trend-aligned short-form content where it's the fastest path to publish — phone or in-platform editing (CapCut) is in scope for fast-turn pieces.
• Operate under the brand voice and quality bar the Senior Social Media Manager sets; flag content-quality concerns up before publish.

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Coordinate with the on-shift specialist each day (per the Weekly Coverage Schedule) on hand-offs, what UGC and trend pieces go up, when, and on which platforms.
• Partner with the Social Graphics Content Specialist when a publish, UGC, or trend piece needs custom graphics — frames, score overlays, branded card adaptations.
• Partner with the Short-Form Video Producer Lead and the Junior Content Editor & Publisher when a UGC or trend piece needs short-form production or editing support before publish.
• Coordinate with the Director of Video Content's team on publishing video output and on UGC that pairs with team-produced video pieces.

Key Performance Indicators

• Cross-platform live posting cadence during the assigned coverage window (target: posts within 5 minutes of key tournament moments)
• Engagement rate trend during the assigned coverage window across IG, FB, TikTok, X, and YouTube
• Community management response time during the window (target: under 60 minutes during business-hours blocks)
• UGC pipeline volume: pieces sourced per week, percent approved by the Senior Social Media Manager, and percent reposted
• UGC engagement performance: engagement rate on UGC reposts vs. originals (target: positive lift quarter-over-quarter)
• Zero rights/usage incidents
• Creator and contributor relationship growth: named relationships built per quarter
• Weekly Trending Content Meeting follow-through: ideas brought by this role that get approved → shipped within the named timing window (target: 90%+)
• Contribution to YoY platform growth: IG (+50%), FB (+50%), TikTok (+100%)

Qualifications

• 2-4 years in social media, ideally with a sports, live event, or news brand — hands-on publishing across multiple platforms required
• Hands-on fluency with native publishing tools across IG, FB, TikTok, X, and YouTube, plus at least one scheduler
• Comfort working under live-event time pressure on multiple platforms simultaneously
• Demonstrated experience with UGC sourcing, community building, or creator-program work
• Genuine fluency with platform trend cycles on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts
• Hands-on shooting and self-editing skills (phone-first production)
• Strong written hand-off communication for inter-shift transitions
• Tennis or sports knowledge a strong plus

Tennis Channel is proud to be equal opportunity employer and a drug free workplace. Employment practices will not be influenced or affected by virtue of an applicant's or employee's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

About Tennis Channel
 

Tennis Channel is the only multiplatform destination dedicated solely to tennis year-round. Together, the Tennis Channel flagship network, Tennis Channel 2, and the Tennis Channel app (tennischannel.com) deliver the most accessible and concentrated single-sport coverage anywhere. As the exclusive U.S. home of the ATP Tour and WTA Tour, Tennis Channel features live coverage of every Masters 1000 tournament — including Indian Wells, the Miami Open, Madrid, Rome, Cincinnati, and more — alongside live studio programming including its premier series, TC Live. Tennis Channel 2, a free FAST channel available in over 100 million homes, brings fans matches from across the globe at every level of the game. The Tennis Channel app brings it all together in one place, delivering live and on-demand matches, original content, and a personalized multi-view experience for fans, available on mobile and connected TV devices. Owned by Sinclair, Tennis Channel is also a co-owner of PickleballTV (pickleballtv.com), a joint venture with the Professional Pickleball Association.

About Sinclair

Sinclair, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) is a diversified media company and a leading provider of local news and sports. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 177 television stations in 79 markets affiliated with all major broadcast networks; owns Tennis Channel, the premium destination for tennis enthusiasts; and multicast networks CHARGE, Comet, ROAR and The Nest. Sinclair’s AMP Media produces a growing portfolio of digital content and original podcasts. Additional information about Sinclair can be found at www.sbgi.net.

About the Team

The life-blood of our organization is our people. We have a compelling story, a goal-oriented culture, and we take really good care of people. How good? Here is a glimpse: great benefits, open-door policy, upward mobility and a strong desire to see you succeed. Ready to be part of a winning team? Let’s talk.

The base salary compensation for this role is $60,000 to $70,350. Final compensation for this role will be determined by various factors such as a candidates’ relevant work experience, skills, certifications, and geographic location. Full time positions are eligible for benefits that include participation in a retirement plan, life and disability insurance, health, dental and vision plans, flexible spending accounts, sick leave, vacation time, personal time, parental leave and employee stock purchase plan.

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