TikTok – Steve Coulter Creative

The third of a five part post on the key developments in digital marketing that businesses should be aware of in 2025.

Part 3. Video Marketing Evolution

Video continues to be the most exciting area of digital marketing for creatives. Video Marketing Evolution in 2025 marks a transformative era where traditional video content has evolved into a more dynamic, interactive, and commerce-driven medium. Short-form vertical video continues to dominate social media platforms, with businesses adapting their storytelling to capture attention in seconds through platform-specific formats like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. The integration of interactive elements has revolutionised viewer engagement, allowing audiences to actively participate through clickable hotspots, real-time polls, and personalised viewing paths. Live shopping has emerged as a powerful revenue driver, combining entertainment with immediate purchase opportunities through seamless e-commerce integration. This convergence of social commerce and video content has created new opportunities for authentic brand storytelling and direct sales. Success in this landscape requires brands to master vertical video optimisation across platforms, leverage AI-powered editing tools for efficient content creation, and develop strategies that balance entertainment with commercial intent. The focus has shifted from simply creating video content to crafting immersive, shopable experiences that drive measurable business outcomes while maintaining audience engagement.

So let’s break down each aspect of Video Marketing Evolution in greater detail:

Short-form video continues to dominate social media
– Evolution of TikTok-style content across all major platforms
– Increased focus on vertical video formats optimised for mobile viewing
– Growth of micro-content (15-30 second videos) for attention-grabbing storytelling
– Integration of AI-powered video editing tools for quick content creation
– Rise of user-generated content campaigns leveraging short-form video
– Platform-specific video optimisation (Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok)
– Enhanced analytics for measuring short-form video performance

Interactive video experiences
– Clickable hotspots within videos for product information
– Choose-your-own-adventure style content for increased engagement
– Real-time polls and surveys embedded in video content
– Interactive product demonstrations with multiple viewing angles
– Integration with e-commerce platforms for seamless purchasing
– Gamification elements within video content
– Personalised video paths based on viewer choices

Live shopping and shopable video content
– Real-time product demonstrations with instant purchase options
– Integration of live streaming with e-commerce platforms
– Interactive Q&A sessions during live shopping events
– Virtual try-ons during live streams
– Influencer-led shopping experiences
– Social proof through live customer reviews and demonstrations
– Analytics tracking for live shopping conversion rates

Vertical video optimisation across platforms
– Platform-specific aspect ratios and formatting requirements
– Enhanced mobile-first viewing experiences
– Optimisation for full-screen immersive viewing
– Improved caption and text overlay placement
– Strategic use of vertical space for branding elements
– Mobile-optimised call-to-action placements
– Cross-platform vertical video strategy development

In an incredibly dynamic realm these developments are reshaping how businesses connect with audiences through video, making content more engaging, interactive, and commercially viable.

If you are interested in any particular application or to discuss how these new innovations might specifically benefit your business please contact me.

The Rise Of Instagram Reels Video & TikTok over static images. The new 2021 Instagram Algortihm.

Earlier today on Clubhouse Social Audio during the 4:13 Leadership forum I was asked to compare marketing online now versus twenty years ago. Categorically I would say it’s far more sophisticated, much lower cost, far more effective and offers high quality metrics to measure your efforts and spend. As they say, you cannot manage what you cannot measure. But as far as some platforms are concerned the writing associated with posts is becoming redundant in favour of video for a generation with very short attention spans.

Where platform leaders go, others follow. So with this in mind we are all going to have to consider how we can promote our businesses within the realms of 30 second short video and longer forms of 5 to 15 minutes of content. Influenced by the success of TikTok amongst it’s key demographic, Instagram are moving towards being more of a video than photography platform and ranking Reels use far greater in the algorithm. Post Likes are being dropped in favour of Saves and Shares so it’s vital you encourage followers to support your efforts by doing this with your posts.

I don’t believe the original developers of Instagram ever envisaged that it would be so heavily used by business marketers and like everything in business we should all have a Plan B ready should Plan A be lost to us. Thus we need to develop our use of video in a market sympathetic way, and find alternatives to support the graphics and photography we use as a lead magnet presently. With this in mind, Pinterest looks like a safe harbour and I’ll be looking into this platform next.

Instagram is still a heavily used platform so I would continue to post as you are until your analysis shows a diminished return on your time.