Network Manager - High Plains Civic Media Network

About this position

This newly created position is an opportunity to play a leading role in the creation of a reimagined and innovative model for providing civic news and information across the High Plains region. The model is centered on creating and working with a wide network of individual and organizational contributors to provide a steady stream of content across media platforms that well serves the needs and interest of residents of the High Plains. The development of the High Plains Civic Media Network (HPCMN) is the core strategic initiative of High Plains Public Radio (HPPR) in seeking to grow its audience and increase its daily value to residents of the High Plains region. For full details on the position's responsibilities, requirements and how to apply, as well as information on the HPCMN , visit https://www.hppr.org/great-job-opportunities-for-serving-the-high-plains.

Responsibilities: Coordinating and supporting the individual and organizational contributors to the HPCMN and ensuring a steady flow of content of interest to audiences across platforms, including:

Audience understanding

• Using cross-platform audience data to analyze and assess how effectively various content topics covered by the HPCMN are meeting audience needs and interests
• Using platform specific audience data to analyze and assess how effectively each of the platforms used by the HPCMN is performing in building audience reach, engagement and loyalty
• Collecting direct audience feedback (comments, calls, emails, etc.) for shaping the HPCMN’s overall planning and development

Contributor network development

• Identifying and recruiting area individuals and organizations for multiple roles in the network, including Community Correspondents, Topical Correspondents, Regional Curators and Community Connectors
• Widening the inclusiveness of the contributor network across multiple dimensions, including geography, cultural background, life experiences, occupation, political orientation and other dimensions reflective of residents of the High Plains region
• Developing working relationships and securing agreements and/or MOUs with individual and organizational contributors and partners
• Onboarding and orienting new contributors to the HPCMN
• Tracking and assessing the productivity and effectiveness of the various contributors to the HPCMN

Contributor instructions, tools and training

• Documenting content standards, practices and guidelines for ready and easy use by network contributors
• Documenting workflows, developing checklists, creating “how to” guides and providing training for contributors to produce “publication ready” content on various platforms
• Providing or arranging training on specific content production tasks and tools (e.g. photo editing)
• Organizing and maintaining the HPCMN’s “knowledge base” of support materials for contributors in Google Workspace for ready access and reference

Network content scheduling and oversight

• Planning and calendaring (budgeting) the flow of contributors’ content to audiences across platform from current day to months out
• Tracking and documenting the daily output of content published across platforms by the HPCMN
• Ensuring consistency in branding and tagging across all content published by the HPCMN

Publishing support for contributors

• Providing or arranging production and publishing assistance as needed by contributors, especially those without the technical inclination or abilities for producing “publication ready” content
• Assessing content production skill development needs across the contributor network and providing/arranging training sessions and workshops as needed (e.g., CMS uses, photo editing, tagging)

Audience development

• Maintaining a cross platform “dashboard” of audience development metrics for the HPCMN to guide near-term audience development
• Providing ongoing feedback and guidance to network contributors on the effectiveness of their audience reach and engagement using audience data
• Keeping the “scorecard” and tracking the trends of the HPCMN’s cross-platform audience development performance over time
• Using audience data to evaluate the effectiveness of various content topics, formats and platforms in building audience reach and engagement in order to prioritize where and how to direct the HPCMN towards greater audience development
• Assessing the “effort vs. return” across content topics, story forms and distribution platforms used by the HPCMN to better utilize available resources and talents in building audiences

Materials to submit to apply:

• Letter of interest in the position
• Resume
• Professional references (at least 3)
• Digital publishing examples (3-5, preferably on more than one platform)
• Links to social media accounts (optional)

Where to submit: Quentin Hope, Executive Director - qhope@hppr.org

Questions and further information: contact Quentin Hope, Executive Director - qhope@hppr.org

Pay: $50,000.00 - $55,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Garden City, KS 67846