As more companies use Facebook as a marketing platform, they are demanding measurement tools to gauge consumer interaction on the site.

With more consumers viewing online video, advertising in the channel is also gaining traction as marketers, publishers and agencies establish standards for it.

Last year, Skittles got an aftertaste it didn't expect from a social media experiment. Critics pounced after Skittles launched a stream of social media comments about the brand on its site. The brand found itself hosting many negative — and less-than-tasteful — opinions about its product.

Marketers continue to dedicate greater portions of the marketing budget to social networking and Web-based channels, at the expense of traditional media.

Since 2007, brands have created Facebook fan pages that users can join or check regularly. However, the social network has given marketers more opportunities for increased engagement in the past year.

When Bigelow Tea wanted to attract more visitors to its Web site and better engage them, it launched the Tea Talk blog and corresponding social network presence on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. The social media presence especially came in handy last year, when a subset of customers was outraged at the discontinuation of the Fruit and Almond Tea, and Bigelow — the person — answered.

Despite plateauing this year, Web banner ads remain a major source of advertising revenue for marketers. However, their creators are working to improve their effectiveness and interactivity with consumers.

Twitter will play a larger role in retailers' marketing plans this year than in the past, and not only because the social site is much more prominent than it was last year.

For NBC Universal, the explosion of online video has opened up creative opportunities to promote its on-air lineup.

For Sherwin-Williams, introducing an iPhone app was a natural extension of its online and in-store efforts.