Associate Marketing Manager I, Paid Social

Learning Resources • Full-time • Hybrid in Vernon Hills, Illinois, United States • $65,000 - $75,000 / year • 7h ago

Fast Facts

Join hand2mind as an Associate Marketing Manager I focusing on Paid Social campaigns to grow brand awareness and drive revenue for educational products.

Responsibilities: Create and manage paid social campaigns across platforms like TikTok and Meta, analyze performance data, and collaborate with creative and sales teams to optimize reach and conversion.

Skills: 2-3 years of experience in managing Paid Social accounts, strong analytical skills, results-driven attitude, and ability to collaborate effectively across teams.

Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in marketing or related fields, with proven ability to analyze data and deliver business insights.

Location: This position is based in Vernon Hills, IL.

Compensation: $65000 - $75000 / Annually

About hand2mind:

For more than 60 years, hand2mind has inspired learning through play by creating hands on, classroom tested materials that help children learn by doing. We’re a growing, family-owned company recognized as a Chicago Tribune Top Workplace and trusted by teachers and families alike. We create a wide range of educational products—classroom tools like Hands-on Standards®, consumer products for NumberBlocks®, and innovative items like our new BubblePlush™ Yoga Balls. If you’re curious, collaborative, and a kid at heart, you’ll feel right at home here. Join us in shaping the future of learning with our award-winning team!

Team & Position Description:

We are currently seeking an Associate Marketing Manager I, Paid Social to join our Marketing Team! We foster a collaborative environment where continuous learning, teamwork, and innovation drive our success. Our top priority is cultivating a strong, supportive culture and seeking individuals who are eager to learn and grow with us. As we evolve, we constantly refine our processes, analyze data, and work cross-functionally to enhance our impact. This role offers significant growth opportunities, aligning with the expansion of our brands and retail presence. Join us in increasing both the mental and physical availability of our brand while driving revenue and long-term success.

What you’ll do day to day:

Create and optimize paid social campaigns to expand reach and grow mental and physical availability across key channels such as TikTok, Meta, YouTube, Pinterest and more.
Manage relationships with agency partners on key paid social channels.
Utilize tools like Microsoft Excel and PowerBI to evaluate the effectiveness of Paid Social impact on reach, performance in retail channels, budget efficiency and more.
Explore and prospect new paid social communication channels and tactics that will expand our reach and grow mental availability.
Work collaboratively with the Retail & Search team and the Paid Media shared services team to maximize total ROAS and new customer growth (specifically, retailer sponsored ads and DSP).
Support our School and Retail Sales teams to drive traffic for specific regional, geo-targeted initiatives.
Lead asset creation initiatives by collaborating with the creative team and other contracted content creators to support paid social needs.

What we’re looking for (Key Performance Objectives):

Within the first 6 months, audit our paid social channel strategy across awareness and conversion (social selling) to identify key budget savings, optimizations, and opportunities.
Within the first 3 months, partner closely with our TikTok Shop agency to assess performance, identify strategic optimizations, and drive stronger traffic and conversion results through TikTok paid social tactics.
Within the first 3 months, establish a cross‑functional reporting cadence that connects paid social performance to broader paid media and business results.
Within the first 4 months, develop and implement an audience testing framework to optimize targeting, improve efficiency, and uncover scalable high‑value audiences across key social platforms.
Within the first 3 months, deliver a clear strategy for incorporating remarketing and re‑engagement tactics into paid social plans to support both awareness and conversion goals.

Ideal attributes:

Bachelor’s degree in marketing, or relevant field
2-3 years of marketing experience managing Paid Social accounts, or relevant experience in paid advertising as well as social media management.
Results-driven attitude – a self-starter who thinks and participates effectively, both independently and as part of a team
Analytical skills, and sales acumen – must be able to gather, analyze and interpret data to deliver business insights
Proactive and resourceful in solving problems, making decisions and executing on goals
Connects inside and outside the team; shares information, transfers knowledge and seeks diverse input from others within the team and across the organization
Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with management, sales teams, peers and agency partners and manage those relationships to achieve business objectives
Collaborates effectively across creative, product, retail, and analytics teams to develop paid social campaigns from start to finish that are strategically aligned, insight‑driven, and optimized for business impact.
Owns results and follows through on commitments, takes responsibility and produces quality results

We are a drug-free workplace and an EEO employer.

Please note: This role will be filled by our internal recruitment team, so no assistance is needed from any outside staffing agency at this time.

Compensation Range: $65,000 – $75,000 annual salary – Actual compensation may vary due to other factors such as: years of experience, skill set and location. Total compensation includes profit sharing bonus potential, 401k matching, and a variety of other benefits (details can be found here).

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