Your Purpose...
- Is to “change people’s lives for the better through wellness”;
- We deliver social wellness experiences that enable people to meet their personal wellness goals, through holistic physical, mental nutritional and social wellbeing.
- As Social Media & Content Manager, you are responsible for shaping and amplifying Virgin Active South Africa's digital presence, community and cultural relevance. You will lead the development and execution of a world-class social and content strategy that inspires wellness, strengthens member advocacy, drives brand consideration and supports business growth.
- You are the custodian of Virgin Active's digital voice, ensuring every piece of content reflects our purpose, brand values and commitment to delivering exceptional member experiences.
- This role sits at the intersection of Brand, Partnerships & Events, Growth, Product and Sales teams, translating business objectives into engaging content, meaningful conversations and measurable outcomes.
Your Duties and Responsibilities...Social and content strategy
- Develop and lead Virgin Active's integrated social media and content strategy across all platforms.
- Ensure social and content initiatives directly support lead generation, acquisition, retention, engagement and brand equity objectives.
- Own the social content roadmap and editorial strategy, aligned to the annual marketing calendar and key business priorities.
- Continuously identify emerging trends, platforms and audience behaviours to keep Virgin Active culturally relevant and category-leading.
- Apply best practices and high standards across all social channels.
Community growth & member advocacy
- Build, grow and nurture highly engaged digital communities that deepen member connection and brand loyalty.
- Develop strategies that encourage high-volume member participation, advocacy and user-generated content.
- Lead social listening initiatives to identify opportunities, risks and emerging member trends or needs.
- Ensure Virgin Active actively participates in conversations - through proactive community management - rather than simply broadcasting content.
- Champion a community-first approach that strengthens belonging and drives positive brand sentiment.
Content excellence & storytelling
- Lead the creation of compelling, insight-led content that inspires, educates and motivates audiences on their wellness journey.
- Oversee the end-to-end content production process across internal teams, agencies and external partners.
- Ensure all content delivers against strategic objectives while maintaining exceptional creative standards.
- Create distinctive storytelling frameworks that showcase members, trainers, ambassadors, product innovation and club experiences.
- Drive consistency of brand voice and visual identity across all channels.
Influencer, ambassador and partnership strategy
- Lead the Friends of Virgin Active ambassador programme, ensuring it delivers measurable brand and commercial value.
- Develop and manage relationships with influencers, creators, athletes and wellness partners.
- Integrate sports sponsorships, Kauai collaborations and strategic partnerships into content and community strategies.
- Identify new partnership opportunities that enhance relevance, reach and credibility.
- Measure and optimise the effectiveness of all influencer and partnership investments.
Digital innovation and platform partnerships
- Develop and maintain strategic relationships with key digital platform partners, including Meta, TikTok, Google and emerging platforms.
- Identify, beta test and implement new social media capabilities, products and innovations that enhance Virgin Active's digital presence, member engagement and competitive advantage.
Product and innovation marketing
- Partner closely with Marketing, Product and Sales teams to bring new offerings, innovations and member benefits to life through content.
- Translate product features into compelling member stories and experiences.
- Ensure social channels become a key platform for education, discovery and adoption of new products and services.
Commercial impact and performance
- Collaborate with Brand, Growth, Product and Sales teams to maximise the effectiveness of paid social activity.
- Ensure content strategies contribute to leads generation, member acquisition, retention and lifetime value objectives.
- Use audience insights, data and experimentation to optimise performance and improve ROI.
- Balance brand-building initiatives with measurable business outcomes.
Reporting, analytics and optimisation
- Establish and monitor meaningful KPIs across engagement, community growth, advocacy, acquisition and retention.
- Deliver regular reporting and strategic recommendations to senior stakeholders.
- Use social listening, market intelligence and competitive benchmarking to identify opportunities for growth.
- Build a culture of testing, learning and continuous optimisation.
Leadership and stakeholder management
- Lead and inspire agencies, freelancers, creators and content partners to deliver best-in-class execution.
- Collaborate effectively across Marketing, Product, Operations, Growth, Partnerships and Global Virgin Active teams.
- Act as Virgin Active's internal subject matter expert on social media, content and digital communities.
Budget management
- Own the annual social media and content budget, ensuring effective planning, forecasting, cost management and reporting.
- Evaluate and optimise investment across content, creators, agencies, partnerships, technology and paid amplification to maximise commercial impact and ROI.
Our Minimum Requirements...
We can’t live without…
- Relevant tertiary qualification in Marketing, Communications, Media or related field.
- 7+ years' experience leading social media, content and community strategies for leading consumer brands.
- Proven track record of growing engaged digital communities and delivering measurable business impact.
- Experience managing influencer, ambassador and partnership programmes at scale.
- Strong understanding of content strategy, social media platforms, creator ecosystems, social media tools, analytics, community management and digital trends.
- Experience managing agencies, production partners and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Exceptional storytelling, copywriting and content planning capabilities.
- Strong commercial acumen with the ability to connect social performance to business outcomes.
- Advanced knowledge of social analytics, reporting and social listening tools.
- Experience within fitness, wellness, lifestyle, hospitality or consumer brands.
- Experience operating within regional or global brand environments.
Core Interpersonal Skills:
- Emotional Intelligence- proven ability to anticipate the needs of others before they are voiced
- Active Listening- Able to genuinely hear concerns with the ability to defuse tense situations and ensuring members and staff feel heard and valued
- Cultural Awareness and Fluency- understand international norms, etiquette and diverse backgrounds to provide a welcoming environment for our international and VIP members
- Empathy – be able to understand, or and be aware of, someone else’s feelings especially during stressful situations, such as travel delays or billing disputes
Operational & leadership Skills Required:
- Attention to Detail, noticing the small things
- Resilience and Composure, be able to remain calm and optimistic under extreme pressure, during peak or periods or system failures
- Problem solving and conflict resolution – be able to turn challenges into opportunities by thinking and acting quickly to resolve issues before they impact a member’s experience
- Adaptability: be flexible to handle unpredictable shifts in processers, resource changes, last minute VIP guest arrivals, or sudden changes in event plans.
- Relatability – the capacity to connect with diverse stakeholders across all backgrounds
- Situational Awareness – constantly monitoring the environment to identify members who need support or help
- Curiosity- the ability to seek out and transform standard transactions into personalised stories and memorable experiences
- Time Management – the ability to efficiently meet stringent deadlines while maintaining a relaxed and unhurried demeanor for guests.
- Digital Fluency – must be proficient in new age technology and systems