Steelers Nation Unite Fan

Several months ago I got an email about a new thing the Steelers were creating to thank the fans. Steelers Nation Unite was a way of giving back to the fans that have supported the team and organization through the years. The site told me that I would be rewarded for doing many of the very things I was already doing as a fan and that new opportunities would be available to fuel my fandom! Sign me up!

                                                        

By signing up, I was instantly given a badge. Badges are collected and the more that I collect the more prizes, experiences and discounts I receive. I get emails that give me news and updates, but the most exciting thing are weekly huddle calls. I'm not sure why they are referred to as weekly, as they aren't that often, but OMG LOVE them.

I was sitting at my desk the first time I was alerted to them and the phone rang. It wasn't a number I was familiar with so I picked up expecting to be bombarded with a sales pitch. Instead a voice informed me she was calling from Heinz Field! She told me that tomorrow between the hours of 3-4 Steelers Nation Unite would be having a live telephone conference call with Brett Keisel and that I could participate. I thought it sounded great, but promptly forgot all about it by the next day. Lucky for me, I was home when the call did come since I had typed in my home number when signing up.

Brett Keisel, the defensive end for the Steelers, was on the other end of the phone and he was hilarious! He answered calls and questions, and I got to listen to all of it. This was while the season was still going on and before Keisel was hurt and lost for the year. Fans asked decent questions and he was cracking jokes and acting so giddy about the whole experience. It was tons of fun.

Somewhere along the line I missed the next calls. I really wanted to hear Heinz Ward, but I never got that call. I kept going online to see if I was suppose to do something, but I still haven't figured that out. I changed my number to my cell number though so I would always be available. They have already worked out some kinks. When I participated in that first call you had to send in your questions through the site, but that has since been changed. Now if you want to ask a question you just push a number on the phone and get connected to speak live.

Last week I participated in the live chat with Steelers president Art Rooney II. He was nice and gave us some insight about where they see the team heading. The questions fans were asking were pretty generic and nothing juicy was spilled making me wonder if the questions are vetted. My questions would have been, "Mr. Rooney, how did you feel about Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft signing LaGarrette Blount after you had fired him? Do you take that as a personal slap in the face or is it just business?" I didn't ask it though because I was driving at the time of the call and was listening to it on speaker.

One annoyance I have found is that everyone who participates in the phone calls feels the need to ask the caller how they are or asks, "What's up?" After the third time that gets really annoying. Obviously, if you heard them the first three times say they were good, thanks for asking or thanks for calling, you don't need to do it again. But I don't blame the program for this.

The only marks against the program is the hook up between social media sites. I have nothing against linking them to my Facebook and/or Twitter account except that the site they use, Loyalty Plus,  to access this information insists on knowing everything except my password into these accounts. They want to be able to post for me, and with Twitter they want to update my profile and tweet for me. Really? Update my profile? Uh, how exactly are you thinking you know me that well? And you want to tweet for me? Am I not capable of handling that job myself? I finally linked my Facebook account because it wasn't as invasive, but I haven't hooked up my Twitter which is unfortunate because I tweet quite a bit during the games.

I hooked up my buddy to this program, but he isn't into social media at all and still carries a flip phone. I hooked him up because if you check in while attending a game you might get a surprise visit from the organization and receive tons of prizes. I showed his wife how to do all of this, but I don't think they did it when they went to the game at Christmas time. I guess I'll leave that for myself when I get to a game, hopefully next year!

If you are a Steelers fan, check this site out. It is free to join and so far it has been enjoyable. Plus, put me down as your recommendation. I get a badge if I can sign up 20 people! Woo Hoo!