Launch Day Media Plan
We decided that it was important to share the event both to let people know in advance that it was happening, and also to share news on the day in real time.
i. Press Release
We wrote a press release and sent it out a week before, attached images of our progress so far and sent it to the local newspaper, the Times and Star as well as Cumbria Crack. It was nice to see our news story both in the press and online.
2. Media Coverage on the Day
We set up a twitter account several months ago but it really came in to its own on the day. We decided it would be more interesting if we considered the content in advance and spent many hours going through a communication plan and compiling facts, tweets and potential data points to tweet about.
We tweeted over fifty posts on the day. Before this we were not aware of the best way to gain publicity, or the tweets that people found most interesting. After posting a variety of written tweets, photos and videos, it has become apparent that the tweets people like the most are generally those with attached photos and videos. To date the first images taken from the cameras on board the balloon saw 979 impressions, and the ‘burst’ video has had the highest number of impressions with 1,098. These are still going up. A number of our school teachers kindly shared and ‘liked’ our earlier tweet posts which helped extend our coverage. Thank you Miss Forester and Mrs Quine!
Day after
We sent out a second press release the day after the launch. A link on facebook saw a number of really positive comments and also prompted discussion from some about whether the earth is flat!! We continue to write tweets with links to our blog with further detail.
