The transformation of the digital communication of educational organizations in the pandemic period: new practices and challenges

The digital transformation caused by COVID-19 broke with classic communication models and brought about profound changes in institutional and marketing communication in educational organizations. In order to respond to this transformation, educational organizations had to quickly change and adapt different communication strategies in view of the current pandemic context. This article specifically focuses on the description of the transformation of digital communication that took place in two private education educational organizations in Portugal, before the pandemic (January–March 2020) and during the pandemic/confinement (March–June 2020). Following a quantitative and qualitative methodology, in the form of a multiple case study, we focused on listening through semi-structured interviews with directors, IT and communication technicians and questionnaire surveys with parents (n = 172) of both educational institutions. The results indicate that the crisis context raised by the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the role of communication in educational organizations and has profoundly changed the way of communicating. We conclude that regularity, proximity, clarity, and sincerity of communication increase trust in relation to the service provided. It is recommended that educational organisations adopt strategic co-communication plans and that they favour the use of social media and other online media, with a view to streamlining and flexibilities communication.