A mere 140 characters. That's all it takes to damage a brand's reputation these days. One tweet—or one Facebook posting or streamed homemade video or blog tirade—and countless hours of meticulous brand crafting, strategy, advertising and marketing can be upended. Or worse, that negative—and oftentimes misguided—social media commentary can irreparably harm the company's book value, because hearsay can send consumers, investors and profits packing.

Blame the media if you like, but the world is hungry for news. Given today's 24-hour news cycle, what passes for a breaking story has changed, because producers need to "feed the beast" with continual content. That means an obscure viral video can effectively find a huge audience and additional notoriety through rebroadcast. And a company's brand can suffer.

Now 'bore'-ding

Take the case of a prank video that was posted on vimeo.com. Two bored passengers, whose canceled flight meant they were stuck overnight at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, recorded their high jinks—wheelchair racing each other through empty terminals, commandeering the use of American Airlines' gate PA system and wandering through closed areas.

Unfortunately, CNN picked up the video, which prompted a furious response from viewers and CNN website readers, who questioned the apparent lack of security at the airport and the potential threat to passenger safety posed by unchecked areas. And the fury spilled over to the airline, because the gate wasn't "secure." Here, in one fell swoop, two commercial reputations were damaged, simply because two young men missed their flight and filmed their overnight boredom.

Survey says

So it's no wonder that "damage to reputation and brand" consistently hovers near the top of identified risks for companies in the Aon Global Risk Management Survey Report (for those keeping score, it ranks as the fourth-most-identified risk threat in 2011).

"Things move so much faster now because of the 24-hour news environment," says Randy Nornes, executive vice president, Aon Risk Solutions. "What once was a ripple in the water can now be a huge tidal wave, media-wise. Often, companies don't anticipate that, and they suffer from damage to their brand reputation. In essence, an unmanaged outcome can't be a good outcome."

Brand management 2.0

Defending a brand's reputation is of critical importance these days. Here are several things to consider when building—or guarding—a brand's reputation:

1. Every point of contact is a potential point of brand contact.

It means every detail—and every interaction—is a reputation enhancer or detractor. So, front-line personnel have just as much impact on a brand's reputation as does the advertising and marketing. Therefore, training and communications are key to keeping potential brand ambassadors on the same page.

2. One point of contact matters most.

That's the brand steward—the person responsible for setting the tone, promise and vision of the brand. Typically, that person is the chief marketing officer, and he or she becomes the arbiter of what the brand means. "Make sure there's an overarching strategy and one source that connects all brand activities," Nornes says. "You don't want a lot of freelancing going on."

3. Interaction must be cultivated.

In these days of Twitter feeds and Facebook fan pages, it's important to engage consumers for all the right reasons. That is to say: Engage them because the potential relationship is valued, not just because other companies are crafting fan pages. Then, make sure the exchanges are constantly updated. The brand will suffer if a Facebook page features a consumer compliant that goes publicly unanswered for weeks.

4. Don't assume goodwill transfers.

According to a study conducted by the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, a person's positive impression of a company's social responsibility efforts doesn't translate to a general good impression of the company if something negative occurs in customer service or product quality. The takeaway: Invest in corporate responsibility efforts for responsibility's sake, not because there's an expected halo effect toward the company's brand.

5. Plan ahead.