The past few weeks have changed not only the world we live in, but also the world of higher education that we serve. Students are dispersed, admissions prospects can’t visit, and everyone, from young alumni to students’ grandparents, senior staff to new faculty, is experiencing profound dislocation and disorientation. Amid all these extraordinary pressures, we must provide information and reassurance—and continue to help recruit and retain great students and engage and inspire alumni. The future of our institutions, and in fact the future of our society, depends on it.
The crisis management will endure for the foreseeable future, but the first wave of mad communications about emergency decisions, from campus COVID-19 counts and in-person classes being cancelled to so much more, has passed. Schools have been tireless in reaching out through emails, text, and social media, to share the latest. Just as aggressively, we must shift to helping our communities connect, share, and lean on one another in the days and months ahead. That requires rethinking just about everything we do in higher ed communications. Here are a few of the big questions, and some thoughts on each.
What adjustments to the website will ensure it lives up to its new role as the locus of institutional information and community? Drastic rethinking may be required, including the website’s architecture and the type of information that leads. The website is now far more than a storytelling or marketing vehicle; it’s also in some ways the only place people can go to find out what’s going on across the school community. Meet constituents where they are—seeking information, yes, but also wanting reassurance, to see and hear about friends coping and thriving, and to know how they can get help—and give it. Get to the people living it, put their stories and voices forward, and keep it coming in a volume never before seen—with freelance writers (they can work from home!) as your secret weapon.
How can we capitalize on the power of video, now more than ever, to engage, inspire, and show what’s going on and what’s possible? The desire for human contact of a virtual kind amid social distancing is evident by the new explosion of its use. Videography strategies have to be re-considered from the ground up for their relevance to the moment. If campus videographer(s) can’t meet the demand, there’s no time like the present to call in help from freelancers—who can edit, produce, and provide videos from existing content without ever stepping on campus.
What new endeavor can serve the craving for community at this time? Schools play a role in the lives of their constituencies unlike any other institution. How can we facilitate students, faculty, staff, alumni, and families sharing their stories with one another—and get ourselves out of the way? Invite contributions from across the community—in the form of stories, videos, GIFs, songs, tips, helpful hints, fun—and bring in the freelance writers and video editors to, if necessary, prep them and push them back out to the campus community like never before. Volume, range, scale, diversity, energy—the community wants to share this experience. A university communications operation can meet that need like few others. Make it your office’s mission to offer one of the greatest digital communities any university friend could hope for today.
It was important before to make the most of the tools at our disposal to communicate about our colleges and universities, but the call to action that this time asks of marketing and communications offices has rarely if ever had greater meaning. We’re all separate. We’re also all part of something bigger—not only our work, but the campus communities that we create together, and that includes by how and what we offer, share, and build anew. It matters.