The Misunderstood Genius of Duolingo's TikTok Strategy

Love it or hate it, Duolingo's content has set the bar for brands on TikTok.

Apr 15, 2024

Hey, all! I hope your eyeballs are still in tact from the solar eclipse.

I’m still trying to get into a rhythm with writing and sending this newsletter, but I’ve definitely enjoyed writing it. I hope you’re enjoying reading it.

If you’re new here, consider subscribing to my free newsletter. If you’re already signed up, it would help a lot if you could forward this to a friend who might dig it. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the format and content, so please feel free to comment below or DM me on social.

📰 Top Stories tl;dr

YouTube Stars Dude Perfect Score $100M-Plus Investment From Highmount Capital
- The sports and comedy group is aiming to create more content, live experiences, and consumer products, while also bringing in new talent to build a lasting brand beyond the original five members.
- What it means: There are growing opportunities for content creators to leverage their brand and audience for substantial growth beyond the platforms they made a name for themselves on.
'TikTok Notes’ Is TikTok's Latest Swipe at Instagram
- This new photo-sharing app will automatically share TikTok photo posts, although users can opt out, but the name choice and concept have sparked confusion, leaving many unsure of its purpose and appeal.
- What it means: This could signal TikTok's broader ambitions beyond short-form video, offering marketers a new channel to explore for images and audience engagement.
Creators and Strategists Say These Are the Social Trends to Watch
- Frustrations with Instagram's reach, the evolution of platforms like Twitter, and TikTok, the growth of niche communities on platforms like Substack and Discord, and the importance of testing content on Twitter before posting on other platforms were all discussed at Social Media Week.
- What it means: Marketers should diversify across platforms, and prioritize community engagement on niche platforms to stay relevant in the evolving social media landscape.
Elon Musk admits he 'may have done more to financially impair' X than to help it
- Musk acknowledged that his social media posts may have harmed Twitter's financial standing, highlighting his deposition for a lawsuit involving his posts on the platform, the backlash, and ad exodus Twitter has faced since his takeover.
- What it means: Finally. This underscores the importance of thoughtful and responsible social media use, especially for brands, founders, C-Suite, and public figures.
Elon Musk Confirms He’s Been Roleplaying as a Toddler for Years
- This uncovers Musk's use of burner accounts, including one where he roleplays as a toddler, engaging in strange and controversial discourse.
- What it means: Carefully consider your online presence and its impact on your brand's reputation. Don’t make burner accounts. Just don’t. Keep it on main.

✍️ Cover Story: The Misunderstood Genius of Duolingo’s TikTok Strategy

It was the kind of text message that makes marketers like me perk up in their seat with excitement.

“Do you ever see Duolingo content?” my brother asked. “It’s so good.”

I immediately hit him back with a survey of questions. I knew he was a loyal Duolingo user, but I wasn’t sure he’d seen the TikTok account for the language education app. I tried to get at the heart of what he liked about their short-form video content.

My brother replied, “I just love it. He is so twisted and he does the most hilarious things.”

The “he” my brother mentioned, of course, is Duo—the big green owl mascot for Duolingo. Duo started off as an animation and became an inspiration to brands everywhere once he crossed over into our 3D world in the form of an employee dressed in a big, puffy costume.

You’ll notice that my brother made no mention of Duolingo’s product or how much he learns from their TikToks. It’s pure entertainment and hilarity to him and many other fans. But the exact same characteristic that some people love is the target of scorn from some vocal dissenting (read: jealous) marketers. See, us marketers can be a weird bunch because as soon as fans start giving a brand their flowers, it becomes popular to retort with something contrarian about how that brand couldn’t possibly be reaching their business goals.

[in meme] We’re marketers, we want all the attention on us and none of it on you.

Don’t even mention the fact that Duolingo prepares content for April Fool’s Day annually—seriously, the general public would be disturbed by how often social media managers debate the relative value of this holiday online.

The reality is, Duolingo has accomplished something incredible with its TikTok account. It’s to the point that, if aliens came down and asked me to teach them the history of social media marketing, I’d plot just three points or eras on a timeline after the Big Bang:

Wendy’s Twitter (circa 2012)
Oreo’s Dunk in the Dark tweet (2013)
Duolingo TikTok (circa 2021)

What is it that makes Duolingo’s TikTok strategy the defining social media creation of the post-pandemic world? I’ll explain why Duolingo’s costumed mascot, their ability to consistently surprise with differentiated content, and their particular social media manager help set it apart from the deluge of videos on your FYP.

Duolingo’s use of a physical mascot in its TikToks makes their content recognizable and memorable while establishing a through line with its use of character. In a practice where it’s becoming increasingly common to see an influencer or an employee as the face of a brand on their social media, the choice to focus instead on a anthropomorphic bird creates a near endless amount of creative possibilities for content. Think about it: an animated bird twerking in an office or an employee proposing to Dua Lipa is cringe, but someone doing either thing in a bird costume is high art.

Mascots are nothing new, of course, but their use for brands outside of print and TV has been limited until recently. Cereals, candies, and fast food chains have all leveraged mascots to sell products for the past century. Mascots can give a brand a literal personality when they otherwise have none, even if that personality is “unhinged”— a popular adjective applied to Duo.

It’s far more common for brand mascots to adopt a wholesome, approachable persona akin to Mickey Mouse or most sport teams’ mascots with the goal of appealing to kids. But long before social media, Burger King was stopping thumbs on remote controls with its creepy mascot. The King was like an unhinged Ronald McDonald, giving the challenger brand a chance to stay top of mind for consumers, above its more omnipresent competitor with golden arches.

In Duo’s case, the bird was the subject of memes that implied he was evil and intimidated app users by use of force and threats, the byproduct of the Duolingo product team’s playfully pushy push notifications. The brand even used this as inspo for a tongue-in-cheek April Fool’s Day video.

From a strictly logistical perspective, the ability to dress anyone in a costume and shoot a video is hugely beneficial and convenient. In essence, no one is the face of Duolingo. Duo is the hero, and Duo can be any willing participant. For a social media manager with little to no budget, time, or help, this is a significant unlock.

Ultimately, social media is all about storytelling, and the Duo mascot allows the Duolingo team to tell fun, engaging stories that build the bird’s persona and bring in new audiences with every post.

Duolingo doesn’t just subvert expectations on TikTok visually; they do so tonally as well. Standing out from the crowd on social media gets harder with every algorithm tweak. Platforms have always counted a “video view” as one to three seconds, but nowhere is that felt more than on TikTok. If you’re going to stop a scroll in the first few seconds of a video, you’d better give people something they’re not used to seeing, and a six-foot tall green bird gone wild in the office is certainly that.

When even that doesn’t work for the most jaded of viewers, the fact that, “wait, this was posted by a brand account!?” usually will. Most consumers know brands want to play it safe on social media, and that’s why Duolingo posting unhinged content is so surprising—it stops your thumbs, grabs you by the eyeballs, and leaves you clutching your pearls. It is atypical. It stands out because it is different from everything else you’ll see in your feed.

Admit it, the first time you saw a Duolingo TikTok you did a double take at the “verified” badge.

The final variable in this formula is Zaria Parvez, the Sr. Global Social Media Manager at Duolingo. Without her, Duolingo’s TikTok would still be posting educational TikToks that people expect but don’t care much about.

I’m a firm believer that it takes the right mix of talent and situation to make a difference. You can be the best college football player in the NFL Draft, but if you go to a team that is mismanaged and poorly coached, you’ll end up a bust. In the right organization, that player can win personal and team awards, become an icon, maybe even redefine the game.

Parvez joined Duolingo in 2020 and started creating TikToks with Duo the following year. She has been interviewed by countless media, so there is a lot out there about her and how she made Duolingo the “it” brand on social. Still, there are some things that haven’t necessarily been said about her, and given my experience managing social for brands, there are some assumptions I feel safe making about her:

She is good at community management
- Since her early days on TikTok, Parvez has prioritized replying to people who mention Duolingo and commenting on popular posts from other brands.
She is good at social listening
- This has become a lost art, but it’s about understanding the POV of the consumer. Parvez has smartly leaned into content that brand fans have already created about Duo and made it her own.
She is trusted and can manage up
- To put it simply, you don’t get this much leeway with a brand account if you haven’t earned the trust of the decision-makers in your org. At a startup, that can mean explaining to a founder why a particular strategy will work for their brand on social media. I see this ability as a requirement in social media management.
She’s up on trends specific to TikTok
- One of Duolingo’s strengths has been jumping on trends and creating reactive content when it fits their brand, which is essential to staying relevant.
She’s bold
- If you’ve never managed social for a brand before, it might seem easy to do some of the things Duolingo does on TikTok, but it actually takes a ton of self-confidence and guts to hit “publish” on content like this. Parvez has called it “naïveté”, at least in the early going, but I’d call it being bold. None of this success happens without taking some big swings.
She advocates for herself and more resources
- In one of the articles I linked earlier, Parvez mentions how much the social team has grown since she joined. She herself has earned multiple promotions over the years. This shows an ability to go to bat for yourself and what you need, which is key to career growth.

Duolingo’s TikTok strategy might be debated amongst marketers—there are some who think their content poses too big a risk to the brand or doesn’t move the needle on conversions—but the numbers don’t lie. With 11.6M followers on TikTok and daily active users in their own app up 65% YoY, it’s clear Duolingo’s social strategy is making an impact. Their use of a mascot costume and a tone that is unexpected from a brand account helps them break through the clutter, but it’s Parvez’s expertise and leadership that bring it all together.

Note: While I was creating this post, Parvez published her own newsletter explaining how she was on leave to cope with burnout. Unfortunately, I think most social media managers have dealt with their own version of burnout—I certainly have. It’s far too common in our field, and I’m glad others are shedding light on it.

I hope you’ll join me in sending her all the good vibes.

🔗 More from this past week

Social Media

Content Marketing

Content Creators

Consumers

📈 Stock Up

The moon
Sunglasses
Joker 2
Fallout
Scottie Scheffler
Wrexham A.F.C.
Chris Stapleton
Ryan Gosling
Conan O’Brien

📉 Stock Down

The sun
Morgan Wallen
Lunchables
Jordan Spieth
Arizona Coyotes
Coachella
Golden Bachelor

What I’m Consuming…

📺: Palm Royale

🎧: Better Offline (s/o Alex Warneke for the rec)

📕: Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout

Here Comes the Content

Discussion about this post