Duolingo: The TikTok Sensation

Company image on social media has faced a drastic shift in the past two decades. The early 2000s was full of infomercials, convincing consumers they needed a Fushigi ball, and gaudy graphics. The 2010s brought a wave of social media marketing. Brands took on a teen-speak persona, made funny quips online, and connected with consumers in their living room, at work, and on vacation. Yet, the beginning of the 2020s brought a culmination of the past two decades: facts and humor. Brands utilized slang to push their image out while simultaneously using their platform to display facts, sales, and their products/services. Initially, Twitter was the forefront of social media marketing, but as Musically shifted into TikTok, most brands went with.

Tiktok’s algorithm gives an inherent boost to brands. It remembers what consumers repetitively engage with and pushes videos with a surplus of interaction. So, most brands recognizing the average individual was not liking a stereotypical post, began to engage with trends, sayings, and essentially embraced a comedic appearance. Notably, NutterButter, Hot Pocket, and Duolingo. 

However, Duolingo’s social media marketing manager took TikTok by storm. Zaria Parvez has a special talent for connecting with the public. Making the iconic Duolingo owl participate in trends (TikTok shutting down, Wig, “Since we’re all gonna die,” etc.) brought the company from a language learning app into genuine content creation. Online users follow Duolingo to see their content, not their brand. Other brands followed suit, but Duolingo is the forefront of comedic marketing.

I chose Duolingo precisely because, as an online user, I find their content funny. They do a fantastic job at connecting with the public. It is not just me, as in the image above other brands can be seen engage with Duo’s posts, leaving comments and jokes themselves (Bubble Skincare, Hot Pockets, Jonard Tools, and QDOBA). However, even with Duo’s online presence, they are still a language learning app. Their value proposition is, at its core, to provide easy, convenient language learning services to their customers.

Dating back to the 2010s there is an ongoing joke about the Duolingo owl killing, kidnapping families, and threatening users for not continuing their learning streak. Carters Rants comment “(please it’s been 4 years)” is a callback to the bit, and their comments are full of various iterations. Duolingo plays into it, posting TikTok’s of their owl with a threatening aura. Again, connecting with their audience. 

As we discussed in class, making fans feel like insiders leads to brand loyalty. By participating in a somewhat niche trend, Duolingo has connected, even further, with another community. The trend in mention is the Minecraft Newsletter, as users have created the Daily Diamond, Daily Emerald, and Daily Redstone. Obviously, a play on the New York Daily News. Duolingo took their own spin on the trend by creating the Daily Duolingo–also recording the video in Minecraft. The DailyLantern commenting on the post, “You know its crazy when Duolingo joins your community” while Duolingo replies with a snarky, but humorous, “i’ve been here babe.”

Duolingo knows how to connect with their fans online, but it appears there is one challenge with their marketing. I forget they’re even a language-learning app. Because of their immense trend-related content, unless the joke within the video has to do with language learning, I think of them as content creators first. Ironically, I used Duolingo before they created their online presence. 

Obviously, Duolingo is still a language learning app, and their primary focus is to get individuals using it. It makes sense to use videos as a marketing strategy. As we also discussed in class, texts, videos, and images can assist with brand image. Duolingo has their brand image down. 

In Duolingo’s most recent ad, the owl’s butt explodes into a mini Duolingo bird with the caption “Do your Duolingo.” The notion expressed in the ad seems to reel users back to the fact that they are a language-learning app before a comedy page. Bringing users back to the value proposition of the brand allows Duolingo to gain an audience with humor while simultaneously encouraging them to download the app itself.

From our textbook, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David Meeram Scott discusses the importance of having a personality, calling card, and a niche. It’s been established that Duolingo already has these facets down. Their personality is the entirety of their TikTok page, the Duolingo owl is their calling card, and their niche is cryptic online humor. 

In two of the included screenshots Duolingo responded to users. Responding is a fantastic way to engage with the community, from David Meeram Scott, contributing to the conversation in a genuine way is essential. Moreover, responding ties into the inner circle feeling fans feel when they are equated to an insider. Obviously, Duolingo does not respond to every comment, but typically replies to 2-3 comments. Keeping the replies at a minimum encourages engagement on their posts as fans feel they might get to hear from Duolingo themselves. Engaging with consumers is Duolingo’s end goal.

As I mentioned earlier, I would focus more on including their apps' actual purpose in their TikTok content. The trends are hilarious and create community but they can remove Duolingo from its intended purpose. Their marketing should be language learning before humor, but as their online presence is discussed frequently online, it appears they have already established a customer base. Whether or not those consumers use the app is out of Duolingo’s control.

I enjoyed this assignment, as the Duolingo marketing is incredibly interesting to me. There appears to be a surge of Gen-Z centered marketing online. Brands are looking to connect with the up-and-coming generation and Duolingo appears to be the blueprint of an ever changing marketing strategy. I learned how to apply the concepts we learned in class to something I engage with almost daily, and I look forward to viewing Duolingo’s content with an educated eye.