Digital Football Writer
A rare and exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Hartlepool Mail as a digital football writer covering Hartlepool United.
The successful applicant will provide comprehensive coverage of Pools for the dedicated fans who look upon the Mail as the trusted brand for their club.
You will be tasked with producing exclusives, big interviews, creating picture galleries, features and analysis as well as managing our social media channels.
This unrivalled coverage is expected during the season, when matches are postponed and during the close season.
This important role focuses on driving audience growth (and subscription acquisitions) as part of our developing digital strategy.
You will ideally have experience in delivering digital content and increasing audiences and a strong football journalism CV.
You must be equipped with all of the skills to keep fans up to date with everything happening on the Hartlepool United beat and we are looking for compelling copy packed with colourful insight, analysis and expertise.
Another essential element is the ability to build relationships with the club while you must be comfortable creating video and audio packages as that is a key focus of our coverage.
While this role would ideally suit a senior self-starter, applications from experienced trainees are welcomed.
Applicants should send a comprehensive application to gavin.ledwith@nationalworld.com by noon on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.
Key duties and responsibilities
- Produce, create and publish specialist football content on our www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk website;
- Drive the football content agenda to ensure a daily diet of informative football content is produced to meet the requirements of the newsroom’s daily content schedule;
- Develop relationships with fans and other organisations so that our brands are turn-to destinations for content and engagement;
- Ensure audience data drives content decisions and that audience targets are met;
- Continually suggest innovative content ideas that engage, interest and inform football fans and meet the requirements of the digital audience;
- Drive loyalty, subscriptions, page views and brand awareness;
- Develop personal brand to become a trusted expert and public face;
- Have strong and active social media presence;
- Assist in general uploading, digital content creation, optimisation and website management in line with established workflows;
- Undertake company/editorial projects and any other duties from time to time as reasonably requested by management;
- Achieve pageview targets and author goals.
Skills/experience
- Full driving licence and either own car or regular access to car;
- Journalist qualification (or relevant time-served experience);
- First-class organisational skills;
- An excellent understanding of Hartlepool United and their history;
- Experience of and ability to use analytics to identify digital audience and content trends and commission content accordingly
- Adaptable and flexible;
- Creativity and flair;
- Excellent attention to detail;
- Self-motivated, highly organised and able to take instruction as well as manage
own workload efficiently; - Experience writing high-quality football content for digital platforms;
- Experience of providing analysis and commentary on other media outlets;
- Strong digital skills and excellent communicator on social media;
- Awareness and understanding of how people use the internet to search for information;
- Ability to work quickly and effectively under deadline pressure;
- Flexible approach to shifts – there will be weekend and evening working as part of this role;
- Up-to-date knowledge of media law and IPSO code
Applicants should send a comprehensive application to gavin.ledwith@nationalworld.com by noon on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.
National World is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment as an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. Consideration will be given to flexible working and job share options for all roles.
