The plan when I started writing for the PCJ was to foster a partnership with online media and Facebook using it to drive business towards the “hold in your hand” newspaper as well as the online version. For the most part that seems to be the case with both online and hard copy subscriptions trending upward. The latter truly being an impressive stat giving that most newspapers are trending southward.

If you’re already an online follower of Outdoor Tales and Trails with Dave Beck on Facebook, thank you. I really do appreciate your time and efforts to follow and engage on that level. 

As an online follower you are familiar with the feature “Where’s Dave?” Viewers guess and comment on staged photos taken from around the area. Local landmarks are featured as well locations as widespread as Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota and various places in Colorado.   

My favorite and by far the most popular feature of the page has always been the celebration photos from anglers and hunters. The photos of the young people often garner thousands of views. When this page was set up by the Pierce County Journal, I wasn’t prepared for how many photos would come flooding in especially during the traditional nine-day gun season. **That reminds me, does anyone remember who was the very first person to be featured on this page with a huge buck? 

Okay, I’ve been setting the table with all of this information so that I can point out to you that I have absolutely no idea what photos and videos will attract a huge number of views or which ones will fizzle. The only consistency in this mix is how consistently wrong I am predicting winners and losers. A recently posted photo of a beaver with glowing eyes in the dark cruising up behind a racoon in a trout stream is a perfect example. I thought that it would be viewed and shared over and over again but it has garnered only a couple hundred views. 

Recently while I was hiking, I stopped to take a break and thought the trout stream was mesmerizing in the same way that a campfire holds your attention. I figured the video I shared would produce a few hundred views at best. Well, like I said, I have been consistently wrong and that certainly held true in this case.  To date, that video has produced 7,000 views. Now I didn’t go to business school but if there was ever a case of giving the customer what they want and not what I think they want, this is it. The video is still online but here is a photo of the most popular OTT Facebook post ever.  

*The very first harvest picture was of Chad “Gip” Melstrom.   

Didn’t get enough Dave this week? Visit “Outdoor Trails and Tales with Dave Beck” on Facebook for photos and video of Dave’s adventures. You can share your own photos and video with him there as well, or by emailing him at dave@piercecountyjournal.news Also, check out OTT content on Instagram @thepiercecountyjournal