COVID-19: A communications guide for public institutions in 2021

The world pandemic we have been through for more than a year has made us re-do our lives and adjust them to new rules and regulations. In the professional sphere, changes have been abrupt and noticeable, as companies needed to start working remotely from home and have business meetings using programs they had never used before.

The most important challenge is the one faced by public institutions, given that the peak of the pandemic required people to be informed minute by minute about what is going on. As a result, they had to design an effective communication strategy to get over the crisis. That is why we have prepared this communications guide for public institutions in 2021.

Why use communication strategies in regards to public institutions?

This situation is new for everybody, so it’s important that the information transmitted is as accurate as possible. This will give people tranquility, will prevent mistakes and false infromation that alarm society and, on top of this, it will give people the will to get over the pandemic. That is why it’s crucial to use an efficient communications guide. 

Effective communications guide for public institutions

Communications between public institutions today and in this situation cannot fail. Creating a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this communication is easy if you carry it out and here are some ideas for this.

The most effective option for communication chosen by public institutions is to use the SMS strategy. With this type of messages, you’ll be able to reach people massively and you’ll achieve effective results because most of the population has their phones always at hand and opening the message is usually instantaneous. 

Using SMS you’ll be able to inform about:

• Updates about the disease and where to take a free test. 
• Health advice to take care of oneself, activities to be done at home and support for people with mental health issues.
• Sending support materials to parents who need to help their children with school.
• Tell shops about the measures they need to take in this situation. 
• Send a link to join WhatsApp or Telegram groups to be informed about new measures or cases at all times.

Other options include:

Taking into account that social distancing is one of the main measures to overcome this crisis, you can implement video calls between institutions using platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, and others.

Another effective method of communication are WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These are useful to be connected with people from several institutions and to offer information and updates at once. 

It’s important to remember that communication within public institutions and governments should be clear and simple to prevent false information from spreading to society as a whole.

COVID-19: a communications guide for public institutions in 2021

In these moments of a world pandemic, public institutions need to offer clear and effective communications to keep citizens at ease and informed about the steps they need to take to take care of themselves and others (and how the government is working to fight the disease).

If you’d like to know more about how to create a communication strategy wtih SMS that’s effective for your public institution, you can do so by accessing our LabsMobile platform, where we’ll help you and offer tools for it to work.