Creative Strategist – Social Media & Short-Form Video

Location: Remote

Employment: Full-Time

Focus: Reels | TikTok | YouTube Shorts | Social-First Video

About the RoleWe are looking for a highly creative, trend-obsessed Creative Strategist – Social Media & Short-Form Video who understands what makes people stop scrolling, watch, share and engage.

You will be responsible for researching trending and viral content, developing video concepts, creating strong hooks and working closely with our video editors to turn ideas and raw footage into high-performing short-form content.

You do not need to be the primary video editor. Your job is to own the idea, hook, creative direction and performance thinking behind every video.

What You'll DoTrend & Viral Content Research

- Research trending Reels, TikToks and YouTube Shorts daily.
- Track viral videos, emerging formats, trending sounds, hooks, memes and editing styles.
- Monitor competitors, creators and category leaders across different industries.
- Identify why a video is performing, rather than simply copying the trend.
- Maintain an organised Viral Content & Trend Library with references that editors and social teams can use.
- Spot trends early and recommend which brands should participate.

Video Ideation & Creative Strategy
- Develop fresh short-form video ideas for multiple brands.
- Turn trends into concepts relevant to each brand's audience.
- Create attention-grabbing first 1–3 second hooks.
- Write scripts, opening lines, CTAs, captions and on-screen text.
- Develop repeatable video formats and content series.
- Find creative ways to turn everyday brand content into entertaining, shareable videos.
- Create clear references and mood boards for shoots and edits.

Work With Video Editors
- Create detailed briefs for video editors.




- Provide references showing the desired editing style, pacing and structure.
- Guide editors on cuts, transitions, text overlays, B-roll, sound effects, music and visual hooks.
- Review first cuts and provide clear, actionable feedback.
- Ensure videos are optimised for mobile-first viewing.
- Push edits beyond "looks good" toward "will people actually watch this?"
- Work with editors to produce multiple hook or opening variations when needed.

Track Performance
- Track the performance of published videos.
- Monitor views, reach, watch time, retention, completion rate, shares, saves, comments and engagement.
- Identify viral and high-performing videos across our accounts.
- Analyse why specific videos performed better than others.
- Compare different hooks, formats, lengths and editing styles.
- Create a weekly Top Performing / Viral Content Report.
- Turn insights from winning videos into new concepts.
- Maintain a database of winning hooks, formats and creative patterns.

Your Weekly WorkflowResearch → Ideate → Brief → Review → Publish → Track → Learn → Repeat Every week, you should be able to answer:

What's trending right now?

What should we create next?

Which videos performed best?

Why did they work?

What can we replicate or improve?

What We're Looking For

- Strong understanding of Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
- Naturally curious about internet culture,



creators and social trends.
- Excellent understanding of hooks and attention psychology.
- Ability to recognise viral formats before they become overused.
- Strong creative writing and storytelling skills.
- Understanding of video editing principles even if you aren't an editor yourself.
- Ability to communicate creative direction clearly to editors.
- Comfortable working across multiple brands and industries.
- Data-driven enough to analyse performance rather than relying only on creative instinct.
- Fast-moving and comfortable with daily content production.

Bonus SkillsExperience with tools such as:
- CapCut
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Canva
- Meta Business Suite
- TikTok Creative Center
- YouTube Analytics
- Instagram Insights
- AI tools for research, scripting and creative ideation

What Success Looks LikeYou aren't measured simply by how many ideas you produce.

Success means

Better hooks.

Higher watch time.

More shares and saves.

Higher retention.

More videos breaking past average reach.

More repeatable winning formats.

Ultimately, your job is to help us create content that people choose to watch rather than scroll past.

To ApplyPlease share

1. Your CV / LinkedIn profile.
2. 5 short-form videos you believe are excellent and explain briefly why they worked.
3. Examples of Reels/TikToks/Shorts you have conceptualised or worked on.
4. Three hooks you would use to make a boring product or service engaging.
5. Your favourite creators or brands for short-form content and why.

Important: We are not looking for someone who simply schedules posts or follows a content calendar. We are looking for someone who understands attention, trends, storytelling and short-form video performance.

📌 Creative Strategist – Social Media & Short-Form Video (India)
🏢 McCollins Media
📍 India