Communications in the Face of a Pandemic

We reached out to marketing and communications professionals from colleges and universities across Canada to ask them about their experiences responding to COVID-19 and what they had learned along the journey.

Ensuring that the institution speaks in a consistent, helpful, on-brand manner is a complicated task in the best of times, and this year saw marketing and communications teams across the country undertake this responsibility during an international crisis while physically separated from one another. During this unprecedented time, here is how these professionals responded and what they recommend going forward.

The Initial Response to COVID-19

As soon as they were home and online, marketing and communications teams established strategies and dove into keeping their campus communities up to date on their institution’s response and activities related to COVID-19. Managing responses to questions on multiple channels became a particularly difficult task, and so several teams erected Q&A and FAQ pages to address the most common questions they received. These resources, where staff, students, and community members could go for basic information and updates on decisions, were overwhelmingly popular resources.

“We update the Q&As each night, once the day of EOC decisions and communications are complete. We had over 75,000 page views over a couple of weeks, with visitors staying five minutes on the page, on average.” (Melanie Rogers; Associate Vice-President of Marketing and Communications, Mount Royal University)

“A critical role for the communications team was to help find answers to the commonly asked questions both employees and students had. Having a central team and repository for questions and answers helped to push for answers to the main questions students had. This often helped to prioritize the decisions the organization needed to make in order to meet student expectations and concerns.” (Cheryn Thoun, Communications Manager, Georgian College)

Throughout March and April, many teams began providing resources for personal and professional well-being, and whenever possible, good news stories.

“In addition to updating everyone on the status of the online academic delivery and/or the access restrictions to campus buildings, we include information about the COVID-19 situation in our community. … We also include links to sources for mental and emotional wellbeing, tips for working and studying from home, as well as student success and financial services that can be accessed online.” (Cindy Males, Public Relations and Communications Specialist, Canadore College)

“The communications team were provided with laptops and VPN access, while others were able to take desktops home, where needed. This allowed for complete continuity of our communications to our students, employees and external stakeholders during this initial crisis period and allowed the marketing team to pivot to rethink existing campaign and recruitment plans. … After a couple of weeks, our community wanted to hear good news stories, and we had some great ones to tell. We donated more than 100,000 pieces of PPE to local hospitals and long-term care facilities. Sharing these stories made our students, alumni and community proud.” (Cheryn Thoun, Communications Manager, Georgian College)

“Our Communications and Marketing office has been providing near daily updates for students and staff, via our website and social media channels. We've also been looking for "good news" stories to keep spirits up.” (Roseanne Harvey, Marketing and Communications, Camosun College)

We also saw a number of teams partner with faculty in order to bring familiar faces and voices to the rest of the institution community. Using unique and often unfamiliar communications channels, professors shared stories about what they were working on from home while staff members discussed the shift to online services.

“George Brown created a podcast episode featuring a faculty member and a manager of library services talking about how they made the shift to delivering learning and student services remotely.” (Shawne McKeown, Sr Digital Content Editor, George Brown College)

“Our Dean here at McMaster University's Faculty of Science believed students wanted to hear from their most-respected & trusted professors rather than receive another memo from a dean they didn't know. We launched #MacSciCares so faculty and staff could give quick messages of hope and reassurance to their students. Along with the messages, faculty and staff include selfies and pics from their home offices, often featuring their new pint-sized and four-legged coworkers … We opted for text and a photo to make it easy for faculty and staff to participate. Not everyone's comfortable on camera and we didn't want to spend time editing together a video.” (Jay Robb, Manager of Communications, McMaster University Faculty of Science)

Tips for Moving Forward

Now that the initial transition to remote work has passed and institutions are beginning to plan for the future, marketing and communications professionals will need to shift back from ‘sprint’ tactics to an ‘endurance run’ approach. News will begin to refocus on the research, events, partnerships, and other initiatives we are accustomed to seeing from higher ed, although these will likely continue to be themed around COVID-19 for quite some time; and communications will return to the Fall-focused enrolment and recruitment messaging that is more typical of this time of year.

As these efforts move forward, several professionals emphasized the importance of deliberately maintaining a work-life balance. They encouraged holding a regular work week schedule, especially when demands from platforms like email and social media could come in at all hours of the night, and taking weekends off when possible. They also encouraged meetings and engagement with the internal team to keep everyone connected and informed while they were apart.

“Pace yourselves. Take weekends off. Be scheduled.” (Victoria Miles, Director, Communications, Capilano University)

“Stick to your regular working hours and resist the temptation to "check in" during non-work times. If your work includes social media monitoring, remember that everything can be dealt with during standard work hours.” (Roseanne Harvey, Marketing and Communications, Camosun College)

“Daily briefings with our communications community have been very helpful.” (Daniel Ferguson, Strategic Communications Specialist, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Calgary)

As the situation continues to evolve, several contributors emphasized the importance of ensuring transparency in messaging and staying responsive. While fair-weather communications may allow time for gathering all the details, the pandemic means that there are a fair number of ‘unknowns’ that are constantly a part of the picture. As a result, the priorities shift from being able to provide all of the details to emphasizing responsiveness and clarity.

“Keep the messaging positive, but acknowledge what's going on.” (Christine Johnson, Digital Marketing, Vancouver Island University)

“Be responsive to questions on social and provide answers as quickly as possible -- or let people know you're working on the question. People appreciate the acknowledgement, even if an answer can't be provided immediately. Deal with them on their "channel of choice", wherever possible. If they connect on social, try to help them there, as much as possible -- either publicly or through DM.” (Cheryn Thoun, Communications Manager, Georgian College)

“Update early, communicate often, and do not wait until you have all the answers to begin speaking to your people and the public. Let them know you are still finalizing details and things are likely to change. They will understand this more than if you say nothing at all for any length of time.” (Susan Hunter, Director, Marketing, Communications and External Relations, Northern College)

“Follow the “clear is kind” philosophy. Ambiguity leads to more questions and confusion, thus potentially damaging your credibility and brand. Easy to digest content on both our website and our intranet site helped calm the mounting uncertainty in both staff and students of our operations related to COVID-19.” (Chris Gerritsen, Associate Director, Communications, External Relations, SAIT)

Finding allies within the institution who are familiar to the broader community - whether these are faculty, publicly familiar senior administrators, or student leaders - was also frequently encouraged. A familiar face can go a long way in uncomfortable circumstances to create a sense of connectedness.

“Find ways to showcase your most trusted and respected faculty and staff who are familiar faces with your students. Let students know they're genuinely missed, that faculty and staff understand what they're going through, and that everyone's in this together.” (Jay Robb, Manager of Communications, McMaster University Faculty of Science)

“In this unprecedented time, the CCO (compassion, conviction and optimism) message is key and should permeate throughout your messaging. We led with compassion in our communications. This is an unprecedented time and our audiences, both staff and students, are dealing with big changes in daily life. We wanted to show our leaders and instructors we understand and are there for them. One way we did this was communications direct from senior leadership, including videos from our President and CEO, Dr. David Ross to our students and employees with messages of hope and perseverance.” (Chris Gerritsen, Associate Director, Communications, External Relations, SAIT)

As higher education continues to adapt and prepare for what promises to be an unusual Fall 2020, marketing and communications teams will continue to play a key role in providing institutional communities with the information and support needed to navigate the new normal.