My father-in-law asked me last night about what makes people successful in their jobs, as he prepared to give a presentation on that topic.
One true marker of success is creating opportunities for yourself.
In my career, I did that, which led to a transition from traditional public relations to social media. It may not seem like a huge shift, but the opportunity wasn’t there for me to make the switch easily. I had to create my own path.
Perhaps the most fun case study of someone creating their own opportunity is WWE Superstar Zack Ryder.
Ryder joined first burst onto the scene as one of the Major Brothers, who aligned themselves with Edge. He eventually broke out on his own and took on the name Zack Ryder. After spending time with the La Familia stable, he disappeared for a while.
He then returned to TV in 2009 with a Long Island gimmick – brash, obnoxious and loud. He was “Jersey Shore” before the “Jersey Shore” was a hot thing.
He was a villain and his arrogant catch phrase, “Woo Woo Woo, You Know It,” drew the fans’ ire. But he could GO in the ring, having great matches that captivated the audience. And he had some SWEET theme music!
After some moderate success in early-mid 2010, he was relegated to WWE’s secondary programs, which had a much smaller audience. This onetime fast-rising Superstar’s career was derailed. 
Many people in a similar situation would disappear after being “demoted.” But Ryder is not like many people.
He took to the social sphere to create an audience and develop his on-air character.
He launched a Twitter feed (@zackryder), Facebook page, and YouTube channel.
The clincher was when he launched his own weekly web TV show, Z! True Long Island Story. This allowed him to display creativity and character while connecting with fans in a way no Superstar had done before.
Other members of the WWE team, notably former tag team partner Curt Hawkins, announcer Scott Stanford, WWE poster boy John Cena, WWE Superstar John Morrison and WWE Diva Melina appeared regularly or as part of inside jokes.
Ryder declared himself WWE Internet Champion, called his friends and fans “Broskis,” showed Zack Ryder fan signs (which begat more Zack Ryder fan signs at televised events), and provided excellent entertainment each week.
A fan base grew quickly, and just 22 weeks later, Ryder has become one of the hottest fan favorites of the wrestling community.
The aforementioned signs are growing in number each week. Fans have chanted his name on shows he wasn’t on. And the buzz grows louder each week. “Ryder or Riot” has become a common phrase around the WWE fan base.
His video uploads have surpassed 3,000,000 views and his show has nearly 50,000 subscribers.
Recently, Ryder was named one of Sports Illustrated‘s Twitter 100, the only wrestler on the list of top sports accounts.
And just a few episodes ago, Ryder made an appearance on WWE’s flagship program, Monday Night Raw, that hints at a much bigger role coming soon for Long Island Iced Z.
There are thousands of wrestlers looking for a shot. And hundreds employees by WWE. Just a few dozen are on the active roster, and you can only fit so many of them on four hours of original cable programming each week.
Zack Ryder was halfway between the bench and gone. He needed to catch a break to breathe new life into his career.
But he did something even better – he used social media to create his opportunity.
Woo Woo Woo…You Know It!
[...] Creating Opportunity on Social Media (by @mikeschaffer): [...]
[...] the storylines. A wrestler’s gimmick is that he’s popular in social media (we discussed Zack Ryder a while back here). Whenever a WWE-related person of phrase trends worldwide on Twitter, they tell [...]