Twitter is Great, But You Need Passion To Make It Work For You

When I started using Twitter a little more than three months ago, my goal was to use the service to communicate my business’s message to our customers. Almost immediately, I realized there was a serious problem. Cornell Gallery had no message. Twitter looked like a neat tool, but it was obvious that we needed to put some work into creating content that would be worth communicating.

I decided to take a look at what some of my peers were doing with their Twitter accounts. I was able to immediately see how other businesses were using Twitter, and use the more successful among them as examples for my business. I noticed  a common thread shared by the most successful users — they all had an an uncommon enthusiasm for whatever business or activity in which they were engaged. They had a passion for what they did, and it was that passion that drew other people to them. This passion also caused them to want to share what they had with others.

That’s where the fun began. I began searching for interesting people, and discovered that they consistently had interesting, useful and downright essential information to share. I found artists, business owners, social media experts, authors, lawyers, editors, reporters, CEOs, SEOs, musicians, doctors, physical trainers and so much more. Some of these people were already my customers, most were not, and many will never be, but they all had something to share.

I avoided my initial urge – which was to try to see how much of my own information I could force upon the people I had found. Instead, I decided to pause… and listen. What a game-changing decision. With my numerous Twitter accounts, I follow scores of amazing people who take the time to post information that is frequently extremely valuable.

I’ve already written about many of these people in past articles and plan to continue this in the future. About two weeks ago, I had the good fortune of meeting Chappaqua’s Chris Dessi for what I expected would be a half-hour interview to provide more content for my next blog. As we sat at a table in the back of the Chappaqua Starbucks, I was ready to ask my prepared questions. We started talking about the emerging social media that surrounds us, and the conversation took off.  One social media topic led to another, and by the time I glanced down at my watch, 90 minutes had raced by. After the interview was over, I realized I hadn’t even asked most of my prepared questions. The information I took away was far more valuable.

Dessi is currently Director of  Sales at Buddy Media in NYC, a job that he says is allowing him to “embrace my DNA and follow my passion,” but he talked about the often bumpy road that led him to where he is today. Dessi previously was Vice President, Sales & Business Development at MIVA, and before that he was Vice President of Advertiser Sales at Zanox. Both of those jobs, which Dessi described as “soul-crushing, high-paying,  big-titled jobs”, ended due to restructurings. If not for a speech by a wine salesman named Gary Vaynerchuk, Dessi may well have settled for a third-straight soul-crusher.

The speech of which Dessi talked was one delivered by Vaynerchuk at the Web 2.0 conference in September, 2008. In all fairness, Vaynerchuk is a wine salesman much the same way that the Mona Lisa is a picture of a unique-looking woman. Vaynerchuk founded and hosts Wine Library TV, and is a successful author and speaker. His Twitter account is GaryVee and he has more than 617,000 followers. In the Web 2.0 Keynote Address, Vaynerchuk talked about patience and passion — and how there is no excuse for most of us to be doing something we hate for a living. The most obvious thing about Vaynerchuk (and I urge you to watch a few of his speeches ) is his burning passion for the career he has carved out for himself.

“That speech changed my life,” Dessi said. “He talked about being happy with what you do. When he found he was 1% unhappy with his career, he changed it. Gary is a creative genius who thinks about his legacy.”

After hearing Vaynerchuk speak, Dessi had a new attitude about his own career path. “I had known social media was out there, but I wasn’t engaging. I wasn’t happy, and I am a happy guy. It was around that time that I began to see how social media creates a synergy for business.”

Dessi decided to let the passion he had for social media fuel his career. He devoted his energies toward getting a job in the field, and finally succeeded when he landed the Director of  Sales position at Buddy Media.  It wasn’t easy, though. “They actually turned me down for the job,” said Dessi. “I didn’t flip out. Instead, I went for a six-mile run. I told myself I’m still going to work in social media.”

Dessi believes it was his passion that earned him a second chance at Buddy Media. In a subsequent phone conversation with the decision-maker at Buddy Media, Dessi asked for advice on where else in the field of social media he should look for a job.  “I think my reaction planted a seed,” said Dessi. “They realized I was going to work in social media, and that I might go work for a competitor. I was asked to come in the next morning to make a presentation. I put together a deck of slides and pitched my butt off.”

You can see Dessi’s passion when you talk to him, but it’s also evident in everything he does. Take a look at his updates on Twitter or read one of his blog posts. Watch him on video. We could all use some of that passion. The good news — it’s there for us if we want it. Most of us could rekindle that passion for what we do if we just remembered what brought us here in the first place. We tend to get bogged down in the mundane, tiresome chores of life, and lose sight of the things that are most important.

Use Twitter to connect with people who have the passion. Ask them questions. Read their blog posts. Watch their videos. Ask yourself  “What are these people doing that I can learn from? How can I become more passionate about my own career. How can I become more passionate about my life?”

Let me know how you’re doing. You can follow my CornellGallery Twitter account (send me an @CornellGallery if I don’t follow you back right away). I read all of my DMs and @Replies. I am already busy working on my next blog post featuring another person with passion, Diana Scimone, President of Born to Fly International — an organization which works to stop global child trafficking.  Talk to you soon, and keep the passion.

Twitter Professor is not affiliated with Twitter.com. Chris S. Cornell is not actually a professor (he runs Pleasantville’s Cornell Gallery Custom Frame Shop in his spare time and you can also follow him @CornellGallery), but he is interested in helping build local Twitter communities.  If you have questions or need help with Twitter, give Chris a call at (914) 741-1203. Feel free to add constructive comments, questions or criticisms in the comments section of this blog.