Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Digital Communications Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Digital Communications Manager leads the planning, creation, distribution, and measurement of digital content and campaigns across web, social, email and paid channels. This hands-on role owns digital strategy execution, brand voice and channel optimization, while partnering cross-functionally with marketing, product, policy and leadership teams to ensure messaging alignment, audience growth, and data-driven continuous improvement. Ideal candidates combine creative editorial judgment, technical fluency with analytics/CMS tools, and proven experience managing integrated digital campaigns that meet KPIs for awareness, engagement, conversion and retention.

Focus keywords: digital communications manager, digital strategy, content strategy, social media management, SEO, email marketing, analytics, campaign management, CMS, paid media.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Digital Content Specialist / Content Marketing Specialist
Social Media Manager / Community Manager
Communications Officer / Corporate Communications Coordinator

Advancement To:

Senior Digital Communications Manager
Director of Digital Marketing / Director of Communications
Head of Content Strategy or Marketing Communications

Lateral Moves:

Content Strategy Lead
Growth Marketing Manager
Product Marketing Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and implement a comprehensive digital communications strategy aligned with organizational goals, brand guidelines, and audience insights to drive awareness, engagement, lead generation, and retention across owned and paid channels.
Own the editorial calendar and content roadmap for website, blog, email, social platforms and partner channels, coordinating cross-functional contributors, deadlines, and repurposing opportunities to maximize reach and ROI.
Produce, edit and approve high-quality, on-brand copy and multimedia content (articles, social posts, video scripts, infographics, newsletters) that are optimized for search, accessibility and audience intent.
Manage the organization’s website content lifecycle using the CMS (WordPress/Drupal/etc.), including content governance, metadata, page templates, landing pages, A/B tests and SEO best practices to improve search visibility and conversion rates.
Plan, execute and optimize paid digital campaigns across search, social and display to meet acquisition and conversion targets; collaborate with paid media specialists and agencies to define targeting, creative, bidding and attribution.
Design and manage integrated email marketing programs (acquisition, nurture, lifecycle, transactional) including segmentation, personalization, automation (HubSpot/Marketo/Iterable), deliverability best practices and performance tracking.
Monitor, analyze and report on digital performance using analytics platforms (Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics), social insights and campaign data; translate metrics into actionable recommendations and executive-level dashboards.
Lead social media strategy and community management across platforms (LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), including editorial planning, amplification, influencer partnerships, crisis response and social listening.
Conduct ongoing SEO strategy—keyword research, on-page and technical optimizations, backlink outreach and content gap analysis—to increase organic traffic, keyword rankings and discovery.
Collaborate with design, video, product and external agencies to develop compelling creative assets and templates; ensure all assets meet brand, accessibility (WCAG) and channel specifications.
Establish and enforce digital brand voice, messaging frameworks, and style guides across channels to ensure consistency and clarity for diverse internal and external audiences.
Manage stakeholder relationships across communications, marketing, legal, HR and product teams to shape messaging for campaigns, product launches, corporate announcements and crisis communication.
Lead digital projects from brief through launch using project management methodologies; prioritize work, manage timelines and coordinate resources to deliver on-schedule, on-budget campaigns.
Implement conversion rate optimization (CRO) tactics, including landing page optimization, A/B or multivariate testing, funnel analysis and experimentation plans to improve campaign efficiency and user journeys.
Maintain editorial and compliance processes for content review, regulatory approvals, privacy and consent frameworks (GDPR/CCPA) and third-party content partnerships.
Oversee vendor and agency relationships including scope, SOWs, budgets, performance KPIs and deliverables; negotiate contracts and manage vendor performance reviews.
Build and manage digital communications budget allocations across channels, reporting ROI and adjusting spend to maximize impact against strategic goals.
Provide training, coaching and guidelines to internal stakeholders and subject matter experts for digital best practices, social media use, content creation and brand storytelling.
Develop crisis and rapid-response communication protocols for social media and digital channels, including escalation paths, templated messaging and post-crisis analysis.
Plan and execute audience research initiatives—surveys, persona development, user testing and analytics segmentation—to continuously refine targeting and messaging strategies.
Coordinate cross-channel campaign launches (product updates, events, fundraising drives) ensuring synchronized timing, consistent messaging and measurement frameworks.
Produce monthly and quarterly performance reports, insights memos and presentation decks for senior leadership, illustrating impact, learnings and recommended next steps.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Mentor junior communications staff and support hiring, onboarding and performance feedback for the digital team.
Assist with internal communications initiatives to inform employees about digital initiatives, policy changes and campaign highlights.
Curate and maintain an asset library and content templates for faster campaign production and consistent brand use.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strategic digital communications planning and execution across web, social, email and paid channels.
Content management systems (WordPress, Drupal, Sitecore) — content editing, templates, landing pages and governance.
SEO and organic search tactics including keyword research, on-page optimization and technical SEO fundamentals.
Web and campaign analytics (Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics, Looker Studio/Data Studio) — tracking, attribution and dashboarding.
Email marketing platforms and marketing automation (HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, Iterable) — segmentation, workflows and deliverability.
Social media management tools (Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, Later) and social analytics.
Paid media and ad platforms (Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, LinkedIn Ads) and experience with campaign creation, optimization and reporting.
A/B testing and conversion rate optimization tools and methodologies (Optimizely, VWO, Google Optimize).
Basic HTML/CSS and content formatting for web publishing; familiarity with responsive design and accessibility (WCAG).
Creative production literacy: briefing designers, working with video editors, image editors, and reviewing UX content.
CRM and contact data integration knowledge to support segmentation and personalization strategies.
Experience with CMS SEO plugins, schema markup and basic structured data implementation.
Experience using project management platforms (Asana, Trello, Jira) for campaign and content delivery.

Soft Skills

Excellent written and verbal communication with strong editorial judgment and attention to detail.
Strategic thinker with the ability to translate business objectives into measurable digital programs.
Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret data, extract insights and recommend actions.
Time management and prioritization skills in a fast-paced environment.
Creative problem solving and ability to iterate quickly based on feedback and performance data.
Leadership and people development — ability to mentor and influence without direct authority.
Crisis communications composure and sound judgment under pressure.
Customer-centric and audience-first orientation when crafting messages and channel strategies.
Adaptability to evolving digital trends, platform algorithm changes and privacy regulations.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Communications, Marketing, Journalism, Public Relations, Digital Media, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Digital Media, or an MBA with a specialization in marketing/communications.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Communications
Marketing
Journalism
Digital Media
Public Relations
Information Systems / Data Analytics (preferred for analytics-heavy roles)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

4–8+ years of progressive experience in digital communications, content marketing, social media or digital marketing roles.

Preferred:

6+ years experience managing digital channels and teams, with measurable results in content engagement, SEO growth, email performance and paid campaign ROI.
Experience working within cross-functional enterprise organizations or agencies supporting multiple stakeholders and brand portfolios.
Demonstrated success with analytics-driven decision making, A/B testing, and marketing automation platform implementations.