Digital Creative Institute (DCI) Teaching Takeaways

A couple weeks ago, team members from Tribu were invited to assist the Digital Creative Institute (DCI) in San Antonio with teaching the social media portion of their curriculum to this year’s cohort, a talented group of young professionals looking to transform their career through the 15-month digital marketing apprenticeship program.

What is DCI: Digital Creative Institute is a transformative 15-month digital marketing apprenticeship program that focuses on giving recent college graduates the necessary skills to thrive in the workforce and providing local businesses in San Antonio and Austin with highly qualified and productive talent.

I had such an amazing time with the apprentices and want to share a few great takeaways that helped me to also realign as a social media professional and get back to the basics.

• Always think about the big picture, then think about the smaller pictures. We all know the pretty tactical pieces of social media make it exciting, but we do need to back up first and explain how we get there. Before jumping into the tactics, think about your audience, how you can best reach them, the overall goals of your business or client, etc. Think macro, then think micro, so you don’t lose sight of the big needs by getting too far into the weeds.
• Consider marketing channels outside of social media. All pieces of a digital campaign need to be cohesive and moving in the same direction with similar calls to action. If social lives in its own silo, audiences can be confused and the messaging can’t do its job as effectively.
• There is no true right way to build a digital strategy. Every client is different, every business/revenue stream has its own caveats and quirks. As marketers, we have to understand this, love this and accept this. When it comes to strategy, we can’t fit every client into a structure we’ve built. Get creative, move things around and make your approach unique.
• Stay true to the brand and the business plan. Having brand pillars, overall business plans and big macro goals really helps determine social direction. Revisiting those frequently allows you to stay on track and make the best decisions for the brand direction.

Thanks again for a great time, DCI! Hopefully, we can work together again soon.

Interested in learning more about DCI, check them out here! Looking for an amazing partner to take your business to the next level? Give us a call!