In social media Rebecca Ehrnrooth is best known for the Tiktok video he shot in a toilet in Imatra. At the time of filming, there was only ten minutes left for the start of the sprint relay of the SC Games.
I’m locked in the bathroom. And I’m still in the men’s room. I don’t know what to think about this anymore, but it would be nice to have time to start again…
During the competition, the video took on a life of its own on social media. It went viral without Ehrnrooth’s knowledge.
– Sometimes I get asked “have you been stuck in the toilet lately”? exclaims the skier whom Sportliv visited at the end of the summer.
The viral clip can also be found in Sportliv’s mini doc, which you can watch below.
Income through social media
Ehrnrooth likes to use Tiktok and Instagram. It’s easy and natural for him to share videos almost every day. He has been making some income by being active on those apps for a few years.
– My primary goal is to be an athlete who makes content for social media, not to be an athletic social media influencer. But when it feels so natural to be on social media, and when combining social media and sports is so easy to do, why not?
Ehrnrooth used to be a member of the youth national team, but the health problems of the previous few seasons have hindered his development, and since his junior years he has not been a part of any of the National Ski Association teams.
He has not been able to compete regularly at the highest level, in the World Cup, let alone in prestigious competitions, where visibility in traditional media is almost guaranteed.
However, weak success on the track has not prevented him from signing sponsorship contracts and receiving financial support.
Being active on Instagram and Tiktok has brought him some money, but not nearly enough to cover all the expenses of skiing.
– I believe that I should do well in the competitions in order to get a decent salary through social media. It would give me more visibility, and companies would probably be more interested in cooperating with me, Ehrnooth thinks.
Do you believe that in the future you could finance all of your sports with social media revenue?
– Yes absolutely.
– Many athletes really live on their social media income. Lotta Harala is a good example of that. Sure, he’s a really good athlete, but it’s his social media account that drives his personal brand and probably pretty much funds his entire career.
Social media is an important channel for sponsors
Almost all athletes do not take advantage of the opportunities provided by social media. For many people, filming themselves and sharing videos feels uncomfortable and challenging.
Ehrnrooth understands that it can be difficult at first, but he encourages athletes to try anyway. Especially those who are in the same situation as him.
– If you are an athlete of a certain level, sponsors nowadays want to gain visibility on social media.
According to him, athletes who have not reached the absolute peak can benefit from social media the most in a way. The most successful athletes get good sponsorship deals anyway, regardless of their activity on social media.
“If you try to do social media in a way that doesn’t suit you, it won’t get you far.”
– The content does not have to be perfect. The part of social media that only shows the perfect surface doesn’t speak to me at all. Content becomes good when you are yourself, don’t try too hard and are natural.
Ehrnrooth does not make social posts by force. If he doesn’t want to publish something, he doesn’t do it under compulsion.
– If I have a contract with a partner, then the work must be done. But otherwise, if I feel like I don’t want to post anything, I won’t. It should be fun.
16-year-olds create trends
Ehrnrooth has been actively creating social media content since the start of the corona pandemic. The first Tiktok videos were immediately popular, which encouraged him to continue.
Ehrnrooth has more than 11,000 followers on Tiktok and 6,000 on Instagram. He states that there should be more of them, but according to Ehrnrooth, the number of followers no longer plays as central a role as before.
– It is more important how much people react to publications. My followers are really active in reacting and actually watching my videos. If I had a hundred thousand followers, but no one thumbs up my videos, it would feel kind of fake.
In social media, it is not uncommon for people to write inappropriate comments – things they would hardly dare to say to their faces. However, Ehrnrooth has mostly avoided nasty comments.
The negative review he has received has mainly been people’s complaints and bewilderment that an “unsuccessful” athlete of his level makes social media updates related to his sports career.
– What you do on social media and how well you do in sports are two completely different things. Why can’t you be active on social media, even if you are not the best skier in the world, wonders Ehrnrooth.
Ehrnrooth belongs to the private stable Team Electrofit, which was founded in the summer, and offers its athletes a professional and very competitive training environment.
The team organized two foreign camps for its skiers during the season, as many as the A national team had for its own. The B national team has zero camps. Ehrnrooth states that the team’s activities are currently somewhat on the same level as the A national team.
– The training groups offered by the ski association are small, but there are still quite a lot of skiers who invest in us full-time. It is important for Finnish skiing that those dropped from the A national team get the opportunity to train at the same level.
In addition to skiing, Ehrnrooth has studied economics at Hanken, i.e. Svenska Handelshögskolan. In the spring, he wrote his bachelor’s thesis on how different characteristics of an athlete’s personal brand affect consumers’ purchasing decisions.
The study revealed that the athlete’s competitive performance does not have as great an effect as had been assumed. This surprised Ehrnrooth.
– Consumers’ attitudes are most influenced by the character of the athlete and related matters. So, it’s pretty much enough that you’re a good guy.
Ehrnrooth’s trump card in the world of social media has been his personality, not so much his recent competitive performances. His humorous videos have reached millions of social media users, but the recipe so far does not guarantee the popularity of social media videos in the future.
– It seems that Tiktok’s trends change daily. I’m 24 years old, but 16-year-olds create trends in style, he sighs.
– It’s hard to stay on track when content that was good a year ago no longer works at all. Gotta stay alert.