When it comes to reputation management almost everyone is vulnerable. From large corporations (remember the Domino's You Tube video?) to small clients like personal care physicians and plastic surgeons. There are steps you can take before hand to be ready when negative things happen on the internet. Below I will highlight several ways to manage your reputation online.

Monitor Social Media Outlets
These are the heavy hitters that will let you know if that video is about to become viral and spread across the internet like wild fire. Places like Digg, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and Myspace all have the potential to create or break a company.

Quick Response Is Key
When dealing with viral situations the fastest way to stop it is to counter act. Another words, if a video appeared on You Tube about one of your products, you simply release a video counter acting those claims. And if you can't counter act, at least acknowledge it and present a workable solution. This goes into the whole trust issues with customers trusting the manufacturers of a product.

Employee Training
This one is a new one in the corporate world and one of the most important. In most businesses you go through a brief training exercise to learn the rules and regulations of the company. Well with the technological advances being made daily, this one is on the top of the list. Information savvy employees (ie: people who own a PDA or iPhone and are in the social media loop) need to be trained in advantages and disadvantages of social media. If your employees are surfing the web at midnight on a Saturday and come across something bad about your company that is going to be really big news, what is the incentive for that employee to bring it to the attention of a higher up? When dealing with tech savvy employees a small bonus or even a simple 1-800 number someone can call at all times could save you millions in lost revenue from a potential negative viral leak. Implementing safeguards at every stage is one of the best ways to circumvent negative marketing and this holds true when hiring potential future employees.

Their are many, many more ways to prevent negative viral marketing that I did not go into here. This is just a basic overview of what every company should consider when thinking about reputation management, especially in the realms of hiring employees.