WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- For a few weeks now, we’ve collected contributions toward our annual Military Drive, which ended yesterday with Veterans Day. And along the way, we heard from several readers on limited budgets who lamented they couldn’t give more than they did.
Which got me to thinking about how there are so many ways to help/push venture and everything we do … without spending a solitary penny:
3. Stop and see us!
Yeah, we sell stuff at the Downtown HQ/shop, and we’re happy when anyone buys anything, but we’re no less happy when a reader/listener just pops by to say hello! Big smiles all around! Reminds of the real reason we started this whole thing!
2. Pass the word!
There are all kinds of ways to do this, from old-school word of mouth such as letting a friend or family member know what we offer in the way of Christmas fare, from gift subscriptions to the Downtown merch, to the countless new-school options in this category, such as retweeting our content on Twitter, sharing on Facebook and liking everywhere else on social media. You might be surprised to know how much of a difference the latter makes. These platforms reward engagement big-time, and you alone hold that key.
1. Podcast reviews!
This one's No. 1 with a big bullet. Not because the podcasts matter more but, rather, because we've seen the most direct and dynamic impact even from a single review. That can be on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, though the former is preferable, and all one has to do is choose how many stars to leave us, followed by a couple sentences of a review. This vault us to the top of searches on those platforms, and that alone brings so many new listeners!
We can talk about this further in comments if anyone's got any questions, but thanks in advance to anyone who'd try any of the above!
MILITARY DRIVE ENDS AT 1,058
And speaking of the Military Drive: Our goal was 2,022, and we wound up at 1,058 with the Veterans Day finish line yesterday. We'd achieved an all-time high of 2,000 the previous year, so I kept the goal about the same, but that obviously was a bridge too far.
No complaints here.
Look, I'm not about to turn an overwhelming positive into a negative. We're thrilled and grateful for what was contributed, and we'll be honored to be the ones distributing all 1,058 of those free subscriptions over the coming year to those who've served our country. (We've always given out free subscriptions to active-duty military, and that'll never change.)
In addition to the contributions, there were countless passionate emails about this project, and trust me, those are taken to heart no matter the final figure. Best of all, some of those who contributed and wrote were people who'd previously benefited from the program themselves and just wanted to give back. We know how much this means to so many people, and we'll do it again next year.
In the interim, if you have any questions about the program, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com
And most important, please pass along the word to all active-duty military and veterans that we're here for them. To receive their free one-year subscription, they just need to visit dkps.net/military and choose the 'military' option.
With OUR gratitude, always.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• Couple new wrinkles from Adam Bertram, our tech whiz at BoomPress: You can now see multiple names on the same byline when there's more than one of us writing -- like Friday Insider -- or at an event for a live file. ... The issue with an excess of team logos showing at the bottom of the app should be solved. ... Problems with alerts were addressed, including one that had our desktop alerts send you to some random error page.
• We're hiring. Full-time, full-pay, full-benefits. Major beats. Everything but hockey. Not replacing anyone. Only adding. Aiming really high.
• Danny Shirey on football? Yeah, he'll make that debut next weekend at Acrisure Stadium to get us out of a pinch.
• Travel on tap: I'll be making my own Canadian trip to a certain special place next weekend, in addition to St. Paul, Minn., just before that. And yeah, somehow I'll still fly back in time for Steelers-Bengals the next afternoon back here! Don't ask! ... Corey Crisan will travel to Brooklyn to cover Pitt in a midweek hoops tournament.
• Pitt numbers are very, very slightly on the rise. Nowhere near what we'd hoped. And it sure isn't Corey's coverage that's holding them down.
• The whole family's down here in North Carolina for 48 hours to see Dara in her debut collegiate show. Here, too, I'll be back in time for kickoff Sunday.
• I'll keep repeating this until everyone sees it: Go customize your bar at the bottom of the app with your favorite teams. Here's how.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page views for the NFL bye week were 307,411, with our weekly goal being 500,000. Our most-read original piece was my column from PPG Paints Arena criticizing Ron Hextall's work with the Penguins, at 6,825. Broken down by team traffic, articles on the Penguins brought 24.3% of our readership, the Steelers 16.2%, the Pirates 10.2%, Penn State 4.3%, and Pitt 3.5%.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 143,242, with our weekly goal being 200,000, and our YouTube video views for the past week were 91,099, with our weekly goal being 150,000.
• Our company social media accounts are at 47,505 followers on Twitter, 37,854 on Facebook, 18,212 on YouTube, 14,599 on Instagram, 90 on TikTok.
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Anything you need, including lost/forgotten passwords, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com