Toucan Talks
Toucan Talks is a podcast for Wilmington-area business owners and entrepreneurs who are eager to learn from those on a similar journey. Each week, we talk with an area business owner about their successes, challenges, and experiences in business. Don’t worry – we keep it fun as we bounce from topic to topic.
Toucan Talks
Video Trends for 2025
Video marketing has evolved beyond trends to become an essential business tool, with specific approaches that capture audience attention and drive meaningful engagement in today's digital landscape.
• Short-form content remains dominant, requiring hooks that capture attention in the first 3-5 seconds
• Effective videos combine compelling visuals, catchy music, and on-screen text – the "three-headed monster" approach
• Authentic slow-paced content offers viewers a break from high-energy videos and stands out by being deliberately calmer
• Long-form content continues to thrive with more niches finding audiences and platforms extending video length thresholds
• Creating long-form content allows for efficient repurposing into shorter clips, extending content shelf life
• Content series build viewer expectations and loyalty while establishing brand consistency
• Live shopping experiences on platforms like TikTok and Amazon create direct paths from viewer to buyer
If you're interested in starting long-form content in our studio or creating brand videos, head to kickstartcollective.co or reach out on Instagram. Subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and join our email newsletter to be notified when new episodes drop.
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Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co
Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.
Get more from Toucan Talks!
Watch on YouTube
Follow on Instagram
Subscribe to our email list
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Meet your hosts and learn more about Kickstart Collective at kickstartcollective.co
Kickstart Collective is a creative marketing agency based in Wilmington, NC. We offer our clients a creative advantage through creative content and marketing strategies.
Welcome back. We are recording episode three of season three of Toucan Talks and today Joshua and I are going to jump into some video trends that we're seeing this year and some ways that you guys, as business owners or marketing folks, can tap into those trends. So yeah, so yeah. Last episode we talked a little bit about just marketing trends in general for the year. Um, but I think video over the past few years and is going to forever continue.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's not. I guess maybe not even a trend Video is not a trend Video is here to stay, but here's within that realm that you guys can tap into.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So you're our videographer, so I'm going to let you take the lead on this conversation and I'll jump in as needed.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. I've kind of found four to five video trends that seem to have been a thing in 2024 and, I think, just going to continue in 2025. Not anything necessarily that's hitting the scene in February of 2025 necessarily, but it's like hitting the scene in, you know, february of 2025 necessarily, but it's going to continue to build um. First one, obviously. I mean, how can you? You can't avoid it. Short form content yeah, yep.
Speaker 1:So you're gonna find this on your instagram, your face, on the facebook, on the facebook.
Speaker 2:I don't know how to avoid it. Now I'm surprised it's not in, like if I go to like the Harris Teeter app, you know, or like Costco like food app, and I'm like, oh, there's not. There's like short form videos. There it's everywhere.
Speaker 1:I bet I mean we'll get down to trend number five, but maybe it will maybe it will be.
Speaker 2:That'd be kind of cool actually um, but yeah, I think exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for short form content is what our poor little brains have the attention span for. But, within that, there's a lot of ways you can pack value and make it effective as a business. So I'll let you handle that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, some things that I've noticed with short form lately that I think will continue to build this upcoming year. Typically, you really want to catch the viewer's attention within like the first three to five seconds. If you're not doing that, a lot of people there just their attention will fall off very quickly, yes, right.
Speaker 2:And it's so easy to swipe now with everything, all the UI built in, and so easy to do. So it's really important to catch people's attention and there's some ways to do. That is using hooks, and you've probably seen some some trendy kind of like. Creators make like a like, come here and they kind of bring the phone close, like story time or get ready with me is like those, like more fashion forward things. Those are trendy at times, but the hooks work yeah they. The hooks might not last months or quarters or years at a time, but when they're hitting they're hitting and if you can kind of flow with that, I think there's a good chance you can get a lot of viewers in retention as well yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Um no, that is a good point, because I feel like there are definitely like weeks or whatever. It's like a very specific hook or like line of copy is like everybody's doing it and then it switches. But so, yes, exactly. So sometimes those things can be trends using the hooks and not themselves.
Speaker 2:And I feel like clever ways to use that too. I love when influencers, creators, whatever you want to call them or even brands hop onto it in a creative way where it's not like they're just pandering toward the trend, but more so where they're actually kind of giving to or helping with the trend, kind of bringing it up to a creative standard. I think that really hits really well and it can work in quarter one. That might work really well in a brand, like a marketing campaign or something like that, and it can be used as long as it's not meant to be a part of your main brand for years to come. That wouldn't be any good. But if it's for shorter marketing campaigns, it can be pretty useful and also just part of that.
Speaker 2:You really want to catch the person's attention and the topic you are speaking on or showing off should be doing the talking for you, the people that are having those long intros. We're leaving them in 2024. You really want to get to your topic or what you're showing off, what you're selling, quickly so that again people don't swipe away. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think we'll get to this too. But I think to that point, especially with the podcast studio, a lot of people that we're working with are forming, filming long form content and then again we'll dive into this. But getting those smaller videos from the episode to use on social. But with those short clips, like you have to find the things that are going to capture people's attention right away. That will then drive them to the longer piece of content. But if that short clip is like a long intro, gosh, probably not gonna be like oh yeah I'm intrigued, right.
Speaker 2:Why would they want to go to the long form video if the short form video?
Speaker 1:doesn't even keep their attention. You know what I mean. So absolutely we can dive into that, but just as an example for that, yes, that piece and last part on this kind of first like short form part is just people are kind of using like a three-headed animal with this.
Speaker 2:How do you say that Three-headed monster?
Speaker 2:There's three points to what makes this vision. I trust you, what makes something interesting. And those points are the visuals typically trendy music or something catchy that kind of catches people's attention, and text on the screen. So those three things combined make beautiful content that likely will capture the person's attention and, like I said, like Laura was saying too, bring them to your long-form content or to your web page or help convert for sales and stuff like that. So those three together really work.
Speaker 2:So, anyways, moving on to number two, this one's something I've just kind of really noticed in the youtube scene, and also facebook as well. Um, a lot of people are looking for authentic and sometimes might be called slow-paced content. Um, not that that's something that everyone is looking for, but it's like a sector of the market that people are. That is useful for people that are.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've been on social media for like 30 minutes, whatever, and you're just kind of like getting a little worn down just seeing like the oh people yelling in your face and like buy this, buy this, and then you just come across the video that's just slow paced, kind of um, chill music, anything like that that can really keep people watching and also gives people a break. It helps give the viewer time to unwind. It's usually not super edited but it still is intentional with the messaging and with what they're trying to show you. That could still be an ad, but typically, you know, I see that a lot, like I said, in the YouTube scene and where people are just like you know what editing's cool and don't get me wrong, I love editing, but just having something simple cut and then people can just view and unwind, that's. I've noticed a trend with that lately.
Speaker 1:It's almost like breaking through the noise, but in the opposite direction exactly.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a bit counterculture yeah to the short form, everything like three seconds, everything's coming at you fast. It's kind of like ah, I get to watch this.
Speaker 1:I don't know person talk about this and it's just like more calm, you know yeah, um yeah, I think kind of tying back into what we talked about last time with, like, the authentic and human connection, mixing some of that in and yes having again an overall marketing strategy of how are we going to work short form content into some of these longer form pieces and making it cohesive, I think will tie it all together with whatever said business objective is.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and the content that you're putting out really needs to. It needs to fit what you're trying to do and like your brand and like what you're trying to show people. So if if what you're trying to show people is not your brand and like what you're trying to show people, so if if what you're trying to show people is not slow paced and you don't need to fit it into that, yeah you don't need to fit the triangle piece into the circular hole.
Speaker 1:I think I did that right, right, I think it's a square package.
Speaker 2:I'm not good at analogies, I try, but, um, you might be sleep deprived, that's true. Yes, that's true. But anyways, yeah, I think, make sure that if the content fits what you're actually trying to show off and like again, like if if you have something that's a little more faster pace, that's totally fine and that and that fits the trend these days, um, but the slow pace stuff can just be a nice counterculture trend that people might find and really like for your stuff um, I was glancing at your note where it said counterculture and I was just at a very fast pace and I was like thinking of the coffee and I was like I don't, maybe we're not seeing the same things.
Speaker 1:Oh, dang yeah for sure Now again, that could also be sleep deprivation.
Speaker 2:No, no, what you said made it.
Speaker 1:I was just thinking like the coffee. Oh, I see, like the coffee, oh, I see what their content is and I was like I guess maybe there's this fast pace, but it is coffee right? Not good coffee it is I'm drinking right now, right?
Speaker 2:um point three kind of going into that a little bit of a segue uh, long form content um, that is here to stay, it's been here to stay and I think it's just. I don't think it'll ever leave, to be honest.
Speaker 1:Yeah um, yeah, it's the new, the new blogging. I feel like Ooh, good point. Maybe in terms of like podcast and like getting content out there. Yeah even though I think blogging still has a lot of value, especially for, like SEO and different things like that.
Speaker 2:But that's a good point. I didn't think of it like that.
Speaker 1:It's like a new way of people are consuming that longer content, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's here to stay. It's going to continue to rise in popularity. I think I don't think it'll really ever. Maybe at some point it'll die down, but I don't see how it would. It's, I think, ways you'll see it trending this year. I think you'll continue to see a lot of niches pop up. We've already seen that in some ways with, and YouTube's actually kind of kind of blessing this. Right now. I watch a lot of YouTube and I have a lot of YouTube music on in the background and I usually it'll show like the popular with a million hits or whatever. But I've been getting content lately that shows like 150 views and stuff like that and it's just like finding its way into my feed and I think that's a really cool thing that they're doing. I hope it sticks, cause it could help, you know, small creators find some traction.
Speaker 2:Um, but anyways, I think niche podcasts and longer form video will continue to rise. Um, let's see here Longer short form videos on youtube, ig and tiktok. Now I don't have tiktok, but I have. Actually, I don't even have instagram right now, but I have youtube. And uh, I've noticed and I've heard recently that they've extended the threshold for what it takes for short term or long term content like long form yeah I know that.
Speaker 2:I know youtube is like 60 seconds I do know that one, yes, and I think I think tiktok it's become I think some creators have access to like posting 15, 20, 30 minute videos on tiktok and stuff like that. She's okay cool over there I want to make sure I'm not just talking mess here. I think that's what I've heard, um, and so that could be a cool way to kind of put your long-form content. It would normally just rest on youtube, yeah.
Speaker 2:YouTube into other avenues like Tik, tok or other avenues that I assume will continue to follow that trend. Yeah, um, and then anyways, with that with those longer, short, short form videos and stuff like that, um, facebook and X have had video tabs that are pushing users to more, uh, consistent ways to view video and longer term video too, which is kind of cool. Everybody seems to be going in that trend. Yeah, and then kind of flowing into that, the long for con, long form content allows for smaller videos and clips to easily be pulled from. Yeah, and you mentioned that earlier in the previous episode and just in general.
Speaker 2:Um, we we do that a lot, we with podcast guests and studio guests. We typically will have their episode filmed and then we'll pull clips from that that they can use for quick social media clips or ways to market their company or brand or whatever um, and that's a really. It's almost like. It's like you're getting double value, for sure, out of your video.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, yeah, I mean especially with if you're interested in podcasting or doing podcasts and you can make it a video podcast versus just audio, then you I mean you have all the videos and reels. You need to promote that episode right there filmed all at one time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, which is awesome. And I think another place where we've kind of helped people do this is when we've done like brand longer brand videos for a client and then can pull cause, then that you're might have a customer testimonial. You're definitely hitting your brand like value prop points, so you can pull shorter little edits from that longer video too.
Speaker 1:yes, um, so we were laughing about efficiency being the name of the game this year, but I mean it really is it's going to save you time and money and the visual is consistent, so you're building consistency on whatever your platform is that you're using um, so I think there's a lot of runway there that's efficient and effective yes what else? What else do you want?
Speaker 2:right. What more do you need? One more yeah, efficient content right, and I just more points kind of already had on it, but it's, it's a great way to kind of extend the shelf life of your content so it.
Speaker 2:Like I said, we already talked about it you can pull clips from the longer form content and then you can use that short form content to drive traffic to the long form and it's just a great kind of like complete cycle where it just kind of keeps content there in people's minds and fresh and draws traffic to your whatever you're trying to promote and mean you might have people that don't want to listen to your long form content. True.
Speaker 1:I don't know why. Um, that's on them. But if you have those key points that you're pulling out in those clips, they're going to get that content in those shorter form, digestible, quick ways so you can get your main points across, even if they're not going to consume that long-form content Right, which we want them to. But everyone you know consumes content differently, so you got a little bit of everything for everybody.
Speaker 2:Right and you can kind of hit that slow-paced thing that people are looking for sometimes and then at the same time, literally get fast-paced content from the same thing, which is kind of cool.
Speaker 1:So everyone should create long-form content.
Speaker 2:That's right. I think that's the message we're trying to promote here, that's funny.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, what's up next?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so point four is just creators making series out of their content, and this is, you know, I've seen it more. This is more of a short form, but I've seen some on YouTube as well, even Um, and this is really just kind of setting the viewer up for what to expect from the creator.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is literally just it could be. Alyssa was saying earlier, this could be an easy trend is just like a food based like channel or content and just building consistent content out of that and you can. I've seen it with little things, like people going to like a target and dancing for customers and like it's just like a like a consistent trend and those things.
Speaker 1:And if you want to do that, joshua, can't wait to meet you there to help you film that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I might back out of there. I don't know if I want to meet you at the target to help you film, but if you, I mean, I guess I guess you know what, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 1:yeah, let's do it no, but I know I get what you're saying. Like it's, you're building on yes you're getting people like queued up to, like, oh I want to see the next one. Um, so you're building some loyalty, some following there right um it's kind of like setting the standard.
Speaker 2:It's like when people see this first one, they're like, oh, I love that. I don't know, have you ever seen like a video that you loved, or like a piece of content that you love and you go to the um page and it's just completely different? Or like a different messaging or different voice of what you've seen before? Yeah, or?
Speaker 1:like these home. I say like everyone's getting home renovation content on their feeds, but it's like they'll start, they'll do the teardown and then it's like which, I know that's a long process and maybe they'll get there, but it's like click to see the finished, or like the reveal. Like where's the reveal?
Speaker 2:Just leave you hanging. I know Tell me the reveals coming soon, like semi expectation yes, the series is great.
Speaker 1:I know you can't tear your house down to the studs and the next day give me a finish right but just let me tell me to follow along for the process yeah I'll tell me to come see the reveal that's right.
Speaker 2:He set people up for what to actually expect. That's a great point, laura set people up.
Speaker 1:That wasn't on.
Speaker 2:no, I know, seriously, that's personal rant, that's. I have that rant too sometimes, because I'll go to the page and there's just nothing like what they had in the video that I actually liked.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh bummer, I was going to follow them, but I mean, if I really like it, I will follow them, because I want to know but, it just annoyed me that I'm like see ya. Um, I think with the series thing too, depending on the business, um, there's been times where we've done like webinar series.
Speaker 1:So, it might start with something that's a little bit more broad or an introduction, and then the second webinar is a deep dive into a separate piece of content or a separate topic, but they're all kind of building and related to each other, so there's a bunch of different ways you can do that if you're not just trying to live on social or have your content live on social.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I think too that can be a great way to potentially convert viewers to customers too, because if they start along the process of like, oh I'm just going to kind of watch the series. But if there is something you're trying to promote or something that you naturally just sell like as a service, that's part of the thing that you're making the series out of it can be a great way for customers to see that your work is good or what you're putting out is is fun to watch, and it may convert into a follow or a sale or whatever else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so keep them set those expectations and then keep them coming back for more. That's right.
Speaker 2:Retention and then sorry. So yeah, the last one here, this one I don't know, I'm not like in this space, yeah, but I've heard the rumbles that it's kind of coming around and we have we have an inside source, a friend who knows a lot about this but, um, live shopping will continue to rise in social platforms and you know, we're seeing that with amazon, whatnot, and uh, sorry, not whatnot, whatnot, and also t TikTok, apparently TikTok, like live and stuff like that. And that's literally, if people that don't know, it's just kind of I don't know if anyone knows like the QVC channel back on, like cable and stuff, where people would just like basically be selling you things while someone is, you know, on a makeup and people are putting the makeup on the person and selling it live, same situation. It's kind of like like that, but more homey and like maybe just one person selling a product or a series of products, and I think that will just continue to rise. Um, in the social marketing, social media scene.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for sure but yeah, that's really all I got for that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think, well, in terms of return, yes, I think people kind of goes back to some of the other things. Like it is, if you're, and you know, same with QVC, you're using the product being used a lot.
Speaker 1:So it is building some of that credibility and, you know, trust there You're almost getting. I mean, of course it's staged and planned, but it's not just like a product image or something like that. You're actually seeing it get used and then you know it works and you like it. You can buy it right there, instant gratification.
Speaker 2:And it's and it's built into the some of these social platforms, so it's just a great way for people to easily, you know, convert a sale and go literally super fast viewer to to buyer, just like that. So yeah, if if there's something you're interested in, you know there's there's, if you have a product that you're looking to sell, consider one of those platforms that could be useful for you For sure.
Speaker 1:So sweet, um, okay cool. So yeah, short form content. It's going to continue to be a thing. If you can depending especially depending on your business. If you can get that long form content and then repurpose it down into little pieces, it'll just make your life easier. Um, and then I think a lot of these things kind of sticking with authentic and, um, being a real human.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean at the end of the day, that is the benefit of video is people are seeing your face, the people behind the brand. I mean. Obviously there's product videos that don't have that, which is great too, um, but I think for a lot of people that we work with, especially on the podcast side and brand video side, um, you're making again making that human connection. It's real people. Um, hopefully good quality for doing it. It's excellent quality, that's right. But if you're doing it on your own, you know there's plenty of things.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Go watch some Amazon shopping videos. You can get some ring lights, some all sorts of things.
Speaker 2:All kinds of things, yeah.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I don't know Anything else on the video front for this year you're excited about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just think really excited to continue to see people put out authentic content, and authentic is that buzzword that everyone's like whoa authentic, but seriously like real, real people putting out real content and just kind of showing the point of it. I think quickly will really be beneficial for people instead of rambling on and just taking their time with the intros and whatever else. I think that's important.
Speaker 1:Cool. Well, hopefully you found this episode from a super fun engaging Instagram that we put out, but if not, you know that's okay too. So, yeah, if you have any questions, interested in starting some long form content in the studio or brand videos, things like that, you can head to kickstart collectiveco, um, or reach out to us on Instagram. Be happy to chat with you, um. But other than that, we'll have new episodes coming out um next month, so be sure to follow us on Instagram. Subscribe on YouTube, spotify podcast.
Speaker 2:You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 1:You don't want to miss it. You don't Wherever you listen or watch podcast.
Speaker 2:I think we're there. That's right. We should be there, we're there.
Speaker 1:And then you can also join our email newsletter on our website, kickstartcollectiveco, and we'll shoot you an email when the next episode drops. But thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time. Bye.