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The social media game is tough to compete in. It’s not as easy to influence as it looks, and it’s hard for most people to be able to sell themselves as a brand.
Pro wrestling figures like Richard Holliday and Ben Bishop have masterfully put together a marketing game that has made them two of the most recognizable artists on the independent scene. The two wrestlers boast thousands of followers across multiple social media platforms.
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Professional wrestler Dono Hefner is looking to make a name for himself in India. (Provided to Pakinomist Digital)
Dono Henfer takes a page out of their playbook.
Fans may not know the name yet, but he works hard to use social media to his advantage. Inspired by Holliday, Bishop and Tommy Invincible, Hefner told Pakinomist Digital that social media is a key tool for anyone coming up on India.
“Richard Holliday — that’s a guy I look up to right now in the independent scene. I feel like he’s very smart. He’s putting himself out there and his brand,” he told Pakinomist Digital in a recent interview. “A lot of people don’t use social media to their advantage. I feel like if it’s a tool you need in the professional wrestling world, I feel like a lot of people like it.
“Not many use social media to their advantage like him, Ben Bishop, Tommy Invincible, all those guys. They’re all smart. And that’s kind of what I do now. I post every day.”
Most importantly, Hefner emphasized, you never know who might be looking at the other end.
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“No matter what it is, I’m always brainstorming new ideas. I’m always coming up with a new way of how to put myself out there, how to expose my brand, because you never know who’s watching,” he said. “Whether it’s 100 views, 500, 1,000, you just never know who’s behind that screen watching. People have their opinions about what you post, they have their opinions about what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter. It could be someone in WWE watching your stuff and you don’t know because Instagram doesn’t tell you who’s watching your stuff.”
Professional wrestler Dono Hefner comes through the curtain. (Provided to Pakinomist Digital)
Hefner said he started wrestling professionally when he watched it as a kid, and he wanted to go down a different path after high school.
He told Pakinomist Digital that he took a chance to get in the ring.
“Obviously, I’ve always loved wrestling since I was little, and as time went on, as I got older and got into high school, I thought, ‘What do I want to do with my life?’ No kind of degree, no kind of job — none of that interested me,” he said. “Wrestling has been with me ever since I was 5 or 6 years old. So I was like, you know what, let me be the other type of bubble.
“Not everybody can say they’re a wrestler. People are doctors and nurses and all that. So I said, you know, let’s try this. You only live once.”
Right now, as he looks to get booked as much as possible, Hefner said he wants to continue riding the pro wrestling wave as long as he can.
“It’s good to have an end goal, right? But I think about where, as time goes on, where it’s going to take me. I’m here for the ride, whether it’s 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, people have their own stories, people carve their own paths,” he said. “Wherever I end up, wherever I am, that’s where I want to be. I don’t really set a goal for myself.”
Dono Hefner performs a lunar hunger strike. (Provided to Pakinomist Digital)
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Hefner said he is “all over the place” in terms of where he fights next. He said he will be in Puerto Rico on June 13th.
