Weather the Storm of a Negative Online Reputation

There is no way to remove negative reviews about your brand once they're uploaded online. However, there are ways you can handle them. If you want to improve your online reputation, you need to know the appropriate response to such situations and how to contain them. With the right tools, you can take back control of your online presence.

You can’t stop the rain from falling, but you can use an umbrella. The same mentality applies to your online reputation: you cannot stop bad reviews, but you can protect yourself. The range of damage that can occur from negative online reviews has just as many possible variations as a brewing rain storm. It could be one small comment that takes little effort to contain, or it could be a flood of negative reviews that take thousands of dollars and months of hard work to repair. This widespread damage isn't unusual, it’s a result of the growing number of platforms that allow people to express their displeasure online.

The first step in damage control is measurement. Measuring rain can be as simple as placing a bucket outside on a stormy day. The same is true in monitoring your online reputation, it’s as simple as being involved, collecting the data, and observing what is being said about your brand. Join industry-specific social networking sites. While Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are absolute musts, industry-specific sites will be just as beneficial.

Unfortunately, you may have the strong desire to fight for your reputation, taking strides to battle back against negative reviews. While it's important to respond and confront negative reviews, doing so the wrong way may come off as unprofessional, which can then encourage further activity around that particular situation, and thus push its ranking higher on search engines. The best way to discourage and combat negativity is with positivity.

Centel Media™ offers services in all areas of online reputationmanagement, including negative review suppression. To decrease the influence of such reviews, Centel Media™ works tirelessly to create an abundance of positive reviews to outshine the negative.

There's no way to stop any negativity from reaching you or your business, but Centel Media™ can provide you with options to prevent damage and rescue your reputation. For more information on negative review suppression, click here.

To recover an online reputation, you must tread lightly. Know which actions  you should take and which you shouldn't.

Courtney Fisher,

Assistant Press Secretary

Centel Media™

Free ORM Services May Not Be So Free After All

Anyone serious about expanding their business also needs to be serious about marketing.

This includes exploring new ways to promote their product, researching outlets in which to market, and studying the tactics of their competitors.  Today's online businesses often require strict attention to the managing, marketing and monitoring of your brand name. If your business needs to solicit the help of an online reputation management firm to maintain your public image, be wary of offers promising "free" assistance, because it may come at a much steeper cost.

72 percent of consumers read online reviews before choosing to purchase products or services from any business. That’s a large portion of your target audience, and a big number that should inspire your brand to be active in hunting for all available advantages regarding online media.  If you want to stay on top of your business's appearance, then you should take control of what your consumers are seeing. With the anonymity of online interaction, you can be in the trenches, witnessing firsthand what contributes to a consumer's judgment of your brand.

There are many options to help you with the process of managing, marketing, and monitoring your brand name. But, be wary of companies that promise “free” assistance with any of their online reputation management or marketing features. Although they may technically be free of charge, your brand could still be forced to forfeit a significant amount of personal and confidential information such as phone numbers and email addresses.

Despite any promises of "free" services a company may provide, it is never in your best interest to share confidential information online. The ‘free’ part of this reputation software, is essentially the gathering of all information associated with the keywords of your brand. Once this information is collected, a strategy must be tailored for your business. This is when the unforeseen fees and charges begin to accumulate.

Unfortunately in business, nothing is “free,” there is always a catch. If you’re not paying in cash, you are paying with your personal information, and that, in many ways, is much more valuable. Sign up with a credible reputation management company, a company who has your best interest at heart. Centel Media™ is a reputation management company based on effectively managing, monitoring and marketing the reputation of potential clients. Before partnering with any client, we carefully manage their reputation first. After we establish your desired reputation, we can then devise the appropriate marketing campaign that fits your business, which, in turn, draws traffic to your websites.

If you're interested in Centel Media™ services, visit our Products & Services page.

Watch out for online reputation management companies that offer "free" service. It may end up costing you much more than you bargained for.

Courtney Fisher Assistant Press Secretary Centel Media™