WWE: 5 Reasons Why Zack Ryder Is An Underwhelming Superstar

3. It's Not Called The "Wrestling Friends," It's Called The "Wrestling Business"

The biggest key to winning at social media is being able to create sustainable streams of wealth from continued, quality engagement. The second that either the media itself stops or the quality level of the engagement dips, the sustainability fades immediately. The aforementioned Amy Jo Martin has excelled because of her abiding belief in a single mantra. "Provide value when, where and how your audience wants to receive it." The thing that she doesn't mention though is that as your value increases, your audience likely wants a value from your engagement greater than the value that you have achieved. As Ryder's social value grew, his level of interactivity with his market did not grow in depth or value past what was already being delivered. As an example, let's look at McDonald's, a company that has expanded its menu offerings at a clip matching its level of societal awareness and economic growth. For 14 years, McDonald's only offered hamburgers. However, by 1962, they introduced the Filet-O-Fish. By 1968, the hamburger and cheeseburger were improved upon with the Big Mac, and by 1972, the company moved into breakfast with the Egg McMuffin. By 1975, the full breakfast menu was made available, and by 1980 there was the McChicken, with the Chicken McNugget rolled out by 1983. Similarly, Zack Ryder started with tweets, Facebook posts, Z! True Long Island Story, and then a full line of merchandise on WWE Shopzone. How that didn't turn into Ryder more proactively monetizing his fan engagement for WWE online programming, and maybe even a home studio for the web program, etc. is beyond me. If you're going to live by social media, you have to always be cognizant of improved ways to create heightened worth. If not cognizant of that, then you end up dying by social media, too.