Carlota Gatius: "A person who does not have a digital identity generates distrust"

BarcelonaAn email arrives at the Culture section of ARA from a company representing a high-ranking Catalan executive requesting to change a photograph from an old news story to a current one. Behind that curious request is 202 Digital Reputation, a consultancy specialized in digital reputation. Industrial engineer Carlota Gatius took advantage of covid to train in digital business and changed a job at Deloitte for this personal project, with a partner (Ruben Gálvez) and her own capital. Five years later, 202 works with major brands and senior executives, mainly to weather reputational crises on the internet. In the era of LinkedIn, Instagram, and AI, the image we project online may be as crucial as the work we do.

How do I know what digital reputation I have?

— You should google yourself and see what comes up on the first pages of the search engine, see what the first images are, and in case you are a business, also look at the reviews and the map. It is important to do it in incognito mode so that the search is neutral. Today it is also very important to look at yourself in AI engines. And depending on the client, we would look at financial risk databases, in order to request credits and open accounts all over the world.

If I don't like what I see or there isn't much, what do I do?

— Hopefully it's that there's not much! What we will do is reaffirm your digital identity, organize your digital assets to be visible where appropriate, depending on the target of your clients, and we would generate our own content. You have to make what you do count.

And what if negative news about me appear preferentially?

— We believe in prevention, but, in general, when people come to us it is because they have had a reputational crisis. Either because there is a change of direction and something from the past bothers them or no longer represents them; it can be something as simple as a logo or a photograph, as in the case of l’ARA.

Can a bad reputation ruin a company's name?

— We have seen it. However, we must know how to isolate what bad reputation is. Many times people come to us worried because there is a tweet against them, but a tweet will not make you lose your reputation, because it is an isolated thing. A bad review will not make you close your business, but rather there are very many, that follow a pattern and that you do not have new customer influx.

When should action be taken?

— If there is a crisis. A troll is a detractor hidden in anonymity who leaves comments that have a very low impact. On the other hand, a crisis affects many people at once and also different stakeholders (interested parties: partners, employees, clients, etc.). It is important to differentiate. There are people who have a troll who thinks they will have to close tomorrow and people who have a crisis and the only thing they do is let it pass.

Let's imagine we are an ice cream shop that doesn't want to serve in Catalan. An angry tweet can generate a boycott campaign...

— For there to be a campaign, there must be a trend. If I say that chocolate ice cream is not good and no one else thinks so, nothing will happen. But the Catalan issue is a trend: you jump on the bandwagon if it's something you've experienced. The technical advice would always be to respect the client, avoid public conflict and move it to a private dialogue, apologize if necessary and correct the internal process. Cultural battles are always lost: whoever wins the argument, you lose customers.

Can a viral fire be stopped, or must we wait for it to burn itself out?

— In general, it always ends up going away, but we can help not to make it worse. How? By not making rash statements, by not making defenses that generate more attention, by letting the public conversation deflate and by protecting, if necessary, professional digital channels. If the focus is on Twitter, don't let it move to the CEO's Instagram or LinkedIn. One important thing is that lying publicly almost never works.

Is what happens on social media more important than reality? Can you have a good reputation with bad service?

— Networks amplify, but in the long run, reality always wins. Lies have very short legs. Therefore, everything must first come from operations and be brought to the networks. We have seen many cases of brands that were a boom at the beginning because they have a very innovative team or a lot of experience in networks, but which later do not work and end up having a problem. Therefore, you have to analyze the bad reviews, but you also have to modify your internal processes because it is the only way you can achieve positive ones.

For example, can the Renfe image be fixed?

— Clearly not. The first thing to do is improve the service, I don't need to say that. But you can watch what you publish. You can't say you're the fastest if you're the slowest. You can try to have a flatter communication and not seek media exposure if you are already in the spotlight.

What is more concerning, that a bad reputation leads to less business or that a manager cannot go to the polo club in peace?

— This is very true. In South America, where many executives give their children the same name as their fathers, what happened to the father or grandfather can affect the children, for example, if they try to go to university in the United States. This thing about repeating names... I understand the sentimental part, but it can have consequences. Obviously, losing clients or revenue hurts a company a lot. Perhaps it's because of bad publicity or because an unexpected crisis erupts. For example, if there are intentional leaks or due to human error. Cybersecurity is a major concern, and at the very least, you need to have control over what has been leaked.

What would you do if Coldplay's kiss cam catches a client cheating?

— As I was saying, try not to worsen the crisis. In this case, I seem to recall they were workers from the same company. The company should be taken out of the spotlight. Firstly, you have to monitor in real-time everything that is said about the case to be able to get ahead of it, because crises can take very different directions. That case was very publicized due to the gossip, but they were very skillful: we don't remember the company's name, do we? Perhaps it's difficult for those affected to find work, but the company managed to separate itself from it.

And what if social networks reveal infidelity or bring a public figure out of the closet? At what point should they come out to confirm or deny information that affects private life?

— Private life is private, you own it. Our clients are in a state of shock and often want to respond quickly. As a general rule, haste is bad advice. But in cases of exposure of private life, it depends on what each person decides.

Jeff Bezos decides to rent Venice to get married, despite the ecological, tourist, and political crisis there. What would you recommend him?

— There are people who want to have a low or neutral public profile, and then there is Jeff Bezos, who wants to be super-media. Not everyone wants to be Jeff Bezos. We would have done the complete opposite and it is what our clients usually look for: to reduce public ostentation, communicate with humility, and make concrete and visible contributions to the city. The noise he has generated, honestly, was predictable. If you go to extremes, you usually also find an extreme reaction.

Is economic power above reputation?

— It is true that it acts as a cushion that cushions blows that would surely sink another person or a smaller company. But it does not annul reputation, it only displaces it, it is a matter of time. Taller towers have fallen.

And a reputation like Donald Trump's, convicted of sexual abuse and a friend of a pedophile, can it be washed away?

— It's a complicated question. We have an ethical code about the cases we take, and we wouldn't handle a case of pedophilia, for example. But faced with a serious and well-founded accusation, there is only one way: recognition, clear responsibilities, and structural changes. And rebuilding your identity from there. However, do you think Trump wants to change? That depends on each person.

Is there a risk of digital cancellation?

— I would say that with very powerful people it's rare. It's usually something that simply shifts in time: maybe not today, but they'll be called later. With normal people, a small worker or business owner, it can indeed be very destructive and unfair. That's true. The advice is prevention before the solution. Many times it's too late.

How is digital reputation built?

— Reputation is what others think of you, and identity is what you create about yourself. The luck we have in the digital sphere is that you can work on your identity through your own blogs, social networks, and digital media; you don't solely depend on knowing someone or on traditional media. Obviously, there are media that will position you better because they have higher authority in the digital world.

Which networks are most important for reputation?

— Twitter is where you'll find risks, and on Instagram or LinkedIn you'll find opportunities. You have to listen to everything, but it depends on where you like to move. 90% of our clients want to be invisible, but they can't be entirely because they need credibility. We always recommend moving in a flatter and more professional environment like LinkedIn. There are executives who don't have it and aren't interested, and we have to explain to them what the rules of the game are in this globalized world. A person who has absolutely no digital identity generates distrust. If you don't have LinkedIn, if you don't have commercial links, if you have nothing, beware!: if it can make me suspicious, imagine a bank when opening an account.

Have executives gone from meeting at Cercle del Liceu or the Bernabéu box to meeting on LinkedIn?

— I don't think so, they will continue to be found, because the physical part really works. But it gives a seal of confidence, of "everything is going well". We have the president of a large South American multinational who, when we started with him, had 3,000 followers on LinkedIn and now has 50,000. That's working on personal branding. It won't change your profit and loss account, but you won't be invited to speak at Harvard University if you are a completely anonymous person. Because if nobody knows you, you won't be interesting either, no matter how much you are the president of an important business group.

How to build a good digital reputation for industries that are frowned upon?

— It is important to social listening, use artificial intelligence to capture what social networks, digital media, forums, blogs, and AI engines say when they mention your brand. You must monitor the digital conversation of your sector and your company. You are interested in knowing if there is a positive or negative trend, to talk about certain topics or others. If you have a company in the construction or real estate sector, perhaps you don't need to talk about employment. It's better to avoid the hot topic.

I don't know if there are tools to whiten a vulture fund...

— This goes beyond our work, we don't do it. We monitor digital reputation, enhance or organize digital assets, we don't do marketing campaigns or sponsorships, that would be the job of agencies.

Where are the limits? How far can one go to turn a reputation around? Inventing reviews or faking LinkedIn? There are companies that do greenwashing or socialwashing...

— Both things you said go wrong. If you have a problem, you have to solve it. Because if you are doing one thing and say you are doing another, it is only a matter of time before it is revealed. They are strategies doomed to disaster. You can occasionally highlight something that perhaps doesn't define you as much. But, as a strategy, simulating reputation is terrible. Reputation is demonstrated, not simulated.

Could you create a digital brand for me that says I am better than I am?

— We would help you. Because many times it's not that you are not good, it's that you simply don't know how to communicate it and, above all, you don't know how to make it last over time.