Is your company prepared for what others might say about it online?

If this year’s political season’s taught us anything, it’s that the Internet can make — or break — a reputation. And without the tools to fight an online attack, individuals or companies can suffer untold damage that may or may not be fixable.

Some companies are ready. Among them, tech-savvy Apple, which quickly fought off a damaging rumor about its iPhone and Leopard releases in the spring of 2007.

When a popular tech blog leaked an internal company e-mail — which turned out to be a fake — reporting delays in the phone and software releases, Apple stock plummeted in a matter of hours.

But attentive monitoring of its online reputation by Apple officials caught the problem quickly and the blogging site corrected the misinformation. Apple stock rebounded. The phone and software were released on time.

No lasting harm, potential foul.

The lesson: If your company’s not monitoring its online reputation, you might want to consider it.

And it probably won’t be enough to just do the occasional Google search.

As the influence of social media sites and user-generated content explodes, the game’s getting more complicated. For example, a Facebook or Twitter member can create a negative posting about your firm that reaches hundreds of thousands of users in seconds.

Unless you’re subscribed to that user’s postings, you may never know about the damage to your organization’s reputation unless a friend or colleague alerts you to its existence.

The viral nature of the Web sends these messages around the world so fast that keeping on top of what’s being said — and to whom — can sometimes overwhelm even the most savvy communications team.

One caveat however: In some cases, the negative feedback generated on the Web can actually help alert a business to product problems that need fixing.

If bloggers or consumer sites post information about legitimate problems with your firm’s products or services, it can help to know the information up front. This will give your company a chance to jump on a flaw or potential liability early with a solution or upgrade.

Technology experts are advising companies to establish policies and adopt the tools needed to help manage their online reputation.

IT can work with marketing and communications, legal teams and company risk management to understand how to monitor and manage an online reputation.

The tech team can also be useful it helping with the remediation that’ll be needed when a company takes a big hit on the Web.

There are vendors emerging that offer monitoring and response services. Some of them have deep experience in the field, including credit monitoring agencies like Equifax and Experian.

If you’ve monitored your company’s online reputation or repaired it effectively, we hope you’ll share your experience with our readers.

Tags: blogs, Internet, online, reputation, rumors, Web