Director, Social Media

Denny's•Spartanburg, SC

23h

About The Position

The Director, Social Media and Consumer Comms is a creative and strategic leader responsible for Denny’s consumer-facing social and earned communications strategy. The role brings together brand strategy, social media, public relations, culture, and consumer engagement to build brand relevance, spark conversation, and influence consumer behavior. The Director identifies what consumers will care about, turns insights into ideas, and leads teams in bringing those ideas to life. The Director develops integrated organic and paid social strategies and oversees Denny’s broader social ecosystem, including creators and influencers, community management, social listening, and real-time engagement. The role also leads proactive consumer PR and earned storytelling, and partners with internal teams and agencies on integrated campaigns, product launches, cultural moments, and national programs. The Director owns the strategy and day-to-day direction of Denny’s organic social channels, evolves the brand’s social voice and platform strategies, and establishes measurement frameworks for social performance and business impact. The role provides leadership and development to direct reports and works with Media and agency partners to coordinate paid and organic social efforts.

Requirements

Bachelor of Arts in Advertising, Communications, or a related field.
8–15 years of experience in an agency environment, with specific experience in social media management and copywriting.
Strong understanding of key social media platforms and tools.
Excellent writing, editing, and storytelling skills.
Strong project management and organizational skills.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

Restaurant industry experience.
Experience with Adobe Creative Suite or other design tools.
Spanish proficiency.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead Denny’s integrated organic and paid social strategy to build brand relevance, deepen engagement, and drive traffic.
Own the social ecosystem across organic content, paid social, creators and influencers, community management, social listening, and real-time engagement.
Establish a social and consumer PR vision that strengthens Denny’s voice, relevance, and connection with consumers.
Translate brand strategy and consumer insights into culturally relevant social content, earned storytelling, and consumer-facing moments.
Partner with Media and Creative to align paid and organic social strategies, using learnings and insights to optimize content and audience engagement.
Identify high-performing organic content to amplify through paid media and develop paid-first content with agency partners to meet consumer and business objectives.
Connect paid, owned, earned, and social activity across the consumer journey.
Develop and execute a proactive consumer PR strategy that builds awareness, relevance, and cultural credibility.
Identify brand, food, people, partnership, and cultural stories that can earn attention, in partnership with the Enterprise PR team.
Develop integrated PR campaigns around product launches, rewards offers, cultural moments, and national tentpole programs.
Partner with Brand Marketing, Creative, Media, Digital, Partnerships, and agencies on integrated campaigns.
Bring social-first and earned-first perspectives to major brand initiatives from strategy through execution.
Identify authentic opportunities for Denny’s to participate in internet and broader cultural conversations, and develop timely, high-impact ideas.
Ensure social and PR are included early in campaign planning.
Lead the strategy and day-to-day direction of Denny’s organic social channels, including content strategy, community management, and channel growth.
Define and evolve Denny’s social voice, content pillars, and platform strategies as consumer behavior and platforms change.
Develop a proactive content calendar covering storytelling, cultural moments, trends, food and product promotions, and community opportunities.
Ensure Denny’s social presence is distinctive, human, timely, and culturally connected.
Oversee social listening, community management, and consumer response strategy, identifying opportunities to turn conversations into brand-building moments.
Establish measurement frameworks and KPIs for social performance, audience growth, engagement, relevance, and business impact.
Work with the Media team and agency partners to integrate paid and organic social activity and reach consumers with relevant messages.
Partner with paid media partners to lead creator and influencer approvals across organic, paid, and earned channels.
Identify opportunities for partnerships, influencer collaborations, and user-generated content.
Provide leadership and development to direct reports.
Manage boosting campaigns when needed.