Forget about coming first, now you can ride Instagram and Facebook to victory as a brand ambassador.

>>> Mountain biking’s David Brent?

In the golden olden days if you wanted to get paid for riding your mountain bike you had to be good at riding your mountain bike. The best, fastest or most effective riders across a range of disciplines attracted sponsors, won prize money and got paid, just like in any other sport.

Well, how times have changed. Now there’s another path to fame and fortune that even inept riders can follow: by becoming a brand ambassador.

A brand ambassador, like in the Ferrero Rocher ad?

Not quite. It’s someone paid to make the brand look good.

The spectrum of riders is wide. From average Joe ride guides and MTB skills instructors to mid-pack enduro racers, right through to talented bike handlers, who don’t actually race, like Hans Rey (below).

How to become one then…

We asked Hans Rey, who’s been a sponsored rider then brand ambassador for 30 years, how he has remained in the public eye for so long?

“I always had a sense for marketing and I understood the game — bring value to everybody in the equation (sponsors, media, organisers, spectators) and you will (hopefully) be taken care of as a result. Often I feel more like a marketing guy than a rider, but that’s exactly my strength.”

So how do you get paid to ride?

The most powerful tool you’ve got is social media: build it and they will come.

You need to be all over Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat and that other one that’s just been invented while you’ve been reading this.

Do keep up, it’s your job.