Rashida
By now, it’s pretty clear that brands need to leverage social media as part of their marketing strategy.
While the importance of social channels has been visible for some years now, it’s only in the last few that brands have turned their attention to the new kid on the block: TikTok.
Along with new social territory comes new rules (or algorithms rather). Navigating all of these channels, especially TikTok can be a challenge at first.
Slowly, more brands are finding their niches on TikTok and learning how to connect with their audience on the app.
While more brands are joining the ranks, few have done it as well as Duolingo.
Yes, the language learning app made huge strides with TikTok, amassing an impressive following and growing their brand.
How did they do it and what can we learn?
Read on for a Duolingo X TikTok case study you don’t want to miss.
What is Duolingo?
For those who are not familiar (you must not be on TikTok), Duolingo is an app for learning languages. The education app helps you learn languages by gamifying the experience and encouraging you to keep a streak. You can progress through various levels of language mastery that include written, multiple-choice, listening, and other learning activities.
Why TikTok?
Before we dive into some of the incredible things Duolingo has been able to accomplish on the platform, it’s worth considering why the heck they chose TikTok anyway.
Basically, what does TikTok have to do with learning new languages? To be honest, not much. When you think about the purpose of Duolingo and the TikTok app, the two don’t seem to go together much.
Why not leverage YouTube for tutorials and testimonials? Or share tweets with language tips? Well, they do those things as well, but the brand’s reason for leveraging TikTok likely had a lot more to do with brand recognition and perception than with relevant content.
It may seem counterintuitive, but ultimately Duolingo has not used TikTok to promote its product. Instead, they’ve leveraged the platform to generate interest and status around their brand, especially in the eyes of younger consumers. As the third-largest social media app, TikTok offers valuable access to an audience of engaged users.
According to Duolingo’s social media coordinator, Zaria Parvez told Biz Journals, “A big part of Duolingo is that we make language learning fun, and I think that quality specifically was such an awesome opportunity to link to TikTok because TikTok is meant for entertainment, it’s meant for people to have fun, brands are there to entertain, they’re not just there to sell — brands that try selling things don’t really tend to resonate, but if they entertain, people love it.”
For Duolingo, TikTok was largely a place to increase brand awareness. To be fair, their social media presence across all channels is impressive. As of May 2022, they have:
- TikTok: 4.2 million followers
- YouTube: 360,000 followers
- Instagram: 597,000 followers
- Twitter: 477,000 followers
Duolingo Masters the TikTok Language
TikTok holds the potential for brands to connect with a massive audience and drive their reputations, but it is not a home run for everyone who tries it.
Of course, Duolingo was not an overnight sensation. It took time for them to learn the language of TikTok.
At first, they partnered with ByteDance to create language-learning videos from around the world. These highly-produced videos varied in performance, but they weren’t quite what people wanted.
For one, the brand now seems to follow TikTok’s suggested “Flicker, Flash, Flare” content strategy.
Flicker content is reactive. Popular trends are an example. You see a trend, you copy it, you post it. They are always changing and can come up at any time.
Flash content requires planning or a series of sorts. It may be seasonal/holiday content, or planned posts relevant to your audience.
Lastly, there’s flare content. Flare includes large-scale campaigns and initiatives. These require the most planning and coordination. It may include branded hashtag challenges or competitions.
Essentially, TikTok recommends leveraging a blend of these strategies. They suggest you regularly post trends, consistently post flash content, and leverage flare content 1-3 times per year.
Duolingo learned to apply this strategy well. At first, they mostly posted “Flash” content, like how-to language videos or tutorials. While these are relevant to their brand, they aren’t the only type of content the brand needs. They quickly saw the importance of trends. They started to participate in trends that may not seem inherently relevant to their app. They also noticed that featuring their mascot, (the huge, green owl named Duo) performed well.
It’s worth noting that this all took time and tinkering. It took 39 videos from them to make a truly viral video. If you’re interested in checking it out, it was this video with the “live, laugh, love” audio trend.
By the way, part of the TikTok language they learned was all about tone and context. Using viral audio and recreating trends only helps grow your brand when it grabs the audience in a certain way. On TikTok, watchers want brands to be funny. They care about creative, humorous content. In fact, TikTok users are 38% more likely to want brands to show a good sense of humor with their content.
Looking at the Numbers
What exactly was Duolingo able to accomplish on TikTok?
Well, for one, their strategy has been so impressive that TikTok wrote an article about it. The article describes one of Duolingo’s specific campaigns, a back-to-school season one aiming to get more Brazilians on the app.
In this campaign, Duolingo focused on the concept that people could learn a language (like English) for free and from anywhere. They leveraged popular hashtags including #trend, #stitch, #fy, and #cringe, and included a CTA to install the app on the videos.
As TikTok points out, “Using a vocabulary that is common among TikTok users was crucial for the brand to get attention and increase engagement.”
The results of this specific campaign were highly impressive. Duolingo earned a click-through rate that was 39% higher than the education market average, and they gained a 1,400% leap in followers! It reached over 38 million users and has over 90 million video views.
This is just one example of the impressive feats that Duolingo has accomplished on the app and on social media in general.
Okay, But Did Duolingo Make Money?
So, Duolingo gained a lot of followers and traction on social media. That’s great. But I know you’re wondering how (if at all) this translated into helping their company. Brand awareness and reputation are critical, but they can be difficult to get the big guys to spend money on.
Well, the good news is that Duolingo’s TikTok strategy did pay off for them. They earned a spot as the #1 education app in the Apple Store. It’s also the #1 top-grossing app in the Google play store.
While it’s pretty challenging to break down how much of an impact their social media strategy played from the outside, it certainly has helped them gain visibility and earn downloads. For them, downloads is a key factor, since their app works with a “freemium” model (free to download, opportunities for in-app purchases).
What Can We Learn from Duolingo?
Duolingo hit a gold mine with their TikTok strategy. It’s helped them gain massive exposure on several social media apps, which has ultimately translated into more downloads and more money for them.
But what can we learn? Which lessons can we take into our own marketing strategies?
People Like Funny
Clearly, humor worked for Duolingo. Being funny made a difference. Of course, there’s something inherently humorous about a giant green owl dancing to the latest trends. They leaned into this. They had fun with it.
What if your industry or your brand isn’t as light-hearted? Adjust the level and type of humor to be appropriate, but don’t shy away from it! Laughter draws people in, it connects them. Use it in a brand-appropriate way.
Balance of Content Types
If Duolingo nailed one aspect of TikTok (and social media in general) it’s leveraging a mix of content types. They learned through experience that no matter how good the content is, it won’t work as well if it’s all one type.
By following TikTok’s recommended Flicker, Flash, Flare posting style, they were able to diversify their content types and keep their audience engaged. They struck the balance between quick trends, consistently branded content, and set campaigns. While the percentage of each may vary amongst different platforms, the concept is true everywhere. Use a balance of different content types.
More Professional is Not Necessarily Better
At first, Duolingo tried to take a really professional approach. They created highly-produced videos that were very polished. While some of these did well, they quickly realized that the casual iPhone videos took off way more.
The lesson here is that you don’t need to spend hours crafting extremely produced TikToks. The level of production varies slightly per social channel, but TikTok users crave authenticity. They crave casual snippets that feel like something a friend would send you. If you’re looking to grow on TikTok, stick with authenticity.
Read the Room
You know that uncle who says the cringeyest things at every family dinner? Like he can’t seem to get a grip on who’s at the table and what’s appropriate? A lot of brands on TikTok look like Uncle Jim (if your name is Jim, don’t take offense).
Part of the secret sauce is knowing how to read the ever-changing room of TikTok users-specifically your target audience.
Listen to the feedback. What are people eating up with views and engagement, and what content falls flat? Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. See what comments you can turn into ideas that your audience will love.
Be Ready to Pivot
Another thing that Duolingo did exceptionally well is pivot. Their initial videos were by no stretch “bad” but they weren’t going to garner the same growth. The genius behind their strategy realized this and experimented with other content. Over time, the brand developed its own voice, humor, and notoriety because they were willing to make changes.
Far too often, people continue down the same path that’s not working. They keep posting the same content and doing the same thing without seeing the results.
Frankly, succeeding on social media requires a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. You have to be willing to try, to innovate, and to step outside of the box of what you think you “should” post.
Put The Lessons Into Action
When you think about brands that would do well on TikTok, Duolingo isn’t the first that comes to mind. In many ways, it seems like a platform they may struggle with. On the contrary, the brand has done an exceptional job with their overall strategy and specific campaigns.
From their story, there are many great lessons to take away. One of the most important may be to not overlook the social channel in your strategy. Think about the ways your brand can stay true to itself while also connecting with your target audience on the app.
