Reputation management is nothing new. But reputation management challenges are amplified on the Internet where anyone with a keyboard can share their opinions on blogs, forums, social media and other user-driven content sites. Sooner or later they may have something uncomplimentary to say about your company.

So, in a digital world where consumers, not brands, are in control, and search engine results can dredge up anything good or bad, that’s ever been said about your brand, what’s a marketer to do?

First, realize that you cannot police the net. With alarming regularity companies who don’t realize this will send a blogger a cease and desist letter demanding they remove a post the company doesn’t like. This never works the way the company expects because letters from attorneys are like trophies to bloggers and they will proudly publish it on their blog next to the offending post. The letter and the post then spread virally to people who wouldn’t have heard about the incident otherwise, and now ‘bully’ is added to the negative characterizations in the original post.