11 Top Video Marketing Trends for Ecommerce Businesses (2024)

More and more companies are recognizing the value of videos. In 2023, 92% of marketers said video gave them a good return on investment (ROI) – the highest number since 2016. As video becomes more popular, many marketers are embracing and prioritizing the video-first trend Video content in their strategy and choosing video-first platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

But video marketing is easier said than done, and video marketers may work as jack-of-all-trades when it comes to creating video content. Keeping up can mean recording both short and long videos, switching between vertical and horizontal videos, and optimizing for each social media platform – all while ensuring you create engaging content.

Whether your goal is to improve lead generation or increase mobile traffic to your website, there are many ways to increase the performance of video for your business. Here's a look at some notable marketing trends for 2024.

Top video marketing trends

Video marketers consistently follow popular marketing trends to ensure their digital content resonates with audiences and converts customers. Here are the top video marketing trends currently dominating the video marketing space – take a look at which ones you can leverage for your own video marketing strategy:

Videos are for sharing

As a marketing tool, social videos are some of the most shareable content compared to static images or text. In fact, 51% of users report sharing videos with others, compared to just 26% for social media posts and 13% for blog posts. Shared videos increase brand awareness, and online video content viewed on the recommendation of a friend is word-of-mouth advertising at its best.

Whether they are short or longer videos, creating video content that resonates with your target audience is a great way to promote your brand to internet users.

AI tools are on the rise

Creating videos to spread your brand message isn't easy – especially if you create video content for many platforms. This is why video marketing experts are turning to AI tools to create powerful, long-form video content and bite-sized videos faster.

AI video tools can help with idea generation, script writing, caption generation, intelligent editing, and video and voice filters that can quickly convert pre-recorded videos and video snippets into high-quality marketing videos to save you time and money save.

Short videos continue to be the focus

While short videos are less of a trend and more of a movement, they are still very popular because they quickly engage users. Since TikTok rose to fame in 2019, shorthand has been all the rage among users and marketers alike. To keep up with the hype, longer-form social media sites have released their own short-form options – including Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.

While attention is turning to long-form video content (see below), there is no sign that short-form video consumption will slow down any time soon.

Long content is available

While short content has predominated in recent years, conversations are increasingly turning to creating longer videos. TikTok has reportedly told creators that 50% of its users' time is spent on videos of a minute or longer – and the platform recently released 10-, 30-, and 60-minute videos to encourage users to produce in-depth content .

Don't be surprised if more video marketers turn to longer explainer videos, how-to videos, and vlog-style content to attract online video viewers.

Silent television remains popular

It is estimated that around three-quarters of users scroll their social media feeds with the sound turned off. So if your videos don't make sense without sound, you might be missing out on a big audience. Don't ignore users who want to watch silent videos on the train or in a cafe. Instead, consider adding closed captions, visual titles, and detailed captions to keep your online video content from getting skipped.

Customers trust user-generated content over ads

Potential buyers trust recommendations from other users – friends, family, and even influencers – more than information coming from the brand itself. In short, this is social proof. Plus, starting a conversation is always a good marketing strategy, so let your audience tell their own stories through your content. Use a video strategy that includes your audience's voices – by collaborating with influencers, unpacking fan mail, reading customer reviews, or promoting customers who do tutorials on your product.

Early hooks increase performance

The results are in: 63% of the best-performing TikToks have a hook in the first three seconds. An attention-grabbing opener is not only a trend among top videos, but also a best practice for video marketing strategies. It prevents mobile users from scrolling away and ensures your valuable insights come first.

Casual content is popular

More and more brands are turning to casual content with quick behind-the-scenes glimpses and low-production short films that disappear after 24 hours. First developed by Snapchat, the Stories feature is now a staple on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, allowing brands to post everyday, low-production content more regularly. In addition to the casual themes, many brands are forgoing expensive production teams and studios and instead making a short film using their mobile devices.

Live streaming is on the rise

Live videos are now an option on many platforms, for example with the TikTok LIVE function, YouTube Live and Twitch. The livestreaming market is on the rise and brands are using live video to engage new audiences and promote products in real time – another way to offer casual, unscripted content to your viewers. Additionally, live video content can be converted into short or long videos after the live stream.

Search engines prioritize the main content

Search engines rank websites based on the core content of your site. If your video content isn't the star of the show, it won't appear as a thumbnail in web searches and on the search engine results page (SERP).

If your priority is video SEO and your audience primarily searches for information online that focuses on videos, then make your video the focus. Search engines that rank videos are more likely to show your video when ranking web pages, giving you a chance to be at the top of the SERP.

Authenticity influences sales

64 percent of consumers say they are more likely to buy from authentic brands than fake brands. What does that mean? Marketers create video content with real people and their opinions, forgoing high production in favor of more honest media about the company and customers.

For example, on the Allbirds TikTok channel there is this video about a farm visit with Marshawn Lynch and this one with real employees in the Allbirds office.