Duolingo Paves the Way For Content Creation
By: Devyn McLaughlin
In 2022, the best way to market is digital. The pandemic has pushed us towards living in technology, so that should be the focus to get to audiences. Visual communication through digital channels should be a number one priority. In the TikTok game, Duolingo is crushing it.
The Start Of It All
Duolingo is a language teaching service based in Pittsburgh. You could call them the modern Rosetta Stone. Instead of going through the hassle of scheduling college courses or trying to teach yourself through a book you bought off Amazon, Duolingo has lessons in hundreds of languages to get you fluent in no time. That is, as long as you keep up with your work.
The digital marketing for Duolingo began just as expected, with advertisements on expanding your culture and being able to understand those across the globe. Their tactics were pretty successful, as the brand is widely known by the majority of people. A big help came from a trend that went around of people posting on social media their notifications from Duolingo. The app was encouraging learners to return to their lessons. However, the phrasing sparked other impressions from young millennials and gen z. A continuing meme went around portraying the company’s mascot, a green owl, as threatening the users to finish their lessons.
To this day, these memes are still created. Regardless of how they appear to make Duolingo seem negative, it is actually giving the company more brand awareness. This is one of their biggest impacts on social media. Then TikTok came along.
Moving Up the TikTok Stairs
Duolingo joined TikTok in February of 2021. As companies were just getting their feet wet by joining this app and seeing its potential, so was Duolingo. They began like any other brand trying to get through to the app’s audience; they created content that aligned with what their brand was. For Duolingo, this meant showing how to use the service, examples of different language lessons, people from around the world showing different word usages, etc.
Around October 2021, there was a change in the content being posted on Duolingo’s account. The videos consistently featured a giant mascot of the owl doing a variety of things that aligned with the current trends. Suddenly, the company’s views and likes went from thousands to millions. The new bird’s channel gained significant awareness upon the posting of a TikTok where the owl has a crush on singer, Dua Lipa. This particular video gained so much attention with comments such as “EXCUSE ME?”, “I wasn’t expecting this”, and even “I gotta say…duolingo’s social marketing team is rly killing it. A COMPANY being funnier than most the creators here? U NEED A RAISE WHOEVER U ARE”. The videos didn’t stop here, though. For the last six months, Duolingo’s content has continued to confuse older generations, but be the source of humor for gen z viewers. Gen z being the main users of the app, this is a win for Duolingo. In case you haven’t checked, their following is at 3.9 million on TikTok alone.
Trust the Process
Zaria Parvez, Duolingo’s social media coordinator, is the face behind the videos. In an interview, she revealed she is 23-years-old and joined Duolingo straight out of college. Despite it being her first job, she dove in head first and committed to her ideas with big hopes for the company. Parvez then took a normal workday with the mascot and created her first TikTok that started it all. The rest of the company may not understand any of the content, but they are in full support of all she does and are proud of the success she has gained.
Parvez may have been going out on a limb since her coworkers did not understand the concepts and humor behind the videos. However, her moves were very calculated from the choice of media, audience, and content. The TikTok videos have, and continue, to get many views and interactions because of those factors. Duolingo should be the mainframe example for other companies to show how important visual content is. Therefore, trust your coworkers, no matter the background, and be aware of the digital universe, from content trends to what success looks like in each medium. You’ll be on your way in no time.