How Duolingo Made 12M Folllowers in TikTok

• Viral videos bring new people to us.
• And the pieces of story in between enrich the story (even if they didn’t spread widely).
• Finally, the Duolingo sitcom, or universe, is completed.
• And people are attracted to that universe.

Can Silly Content Seriously Boost a Serious App?

Zaria Parvez: This doesn’t fit the context of the question, but I’d like to share something. Some people within Duolingo worry that the silly content we create might have a negative impact on our service. “Okay… I get the setting that Duo likes Dua Lipa. But what does that have to do with our language learning app? Consumers might think we’re fools and misunderstand that the language learning app doesn’t work.”

But I would answer like this: “The reason we can do silly things is because we know best that our app is the best.”

Consumers might try out the app after seeing TikTok. And they’ll soon realize that our service is good. And consumers will start learning languages seriously. We’re the same. We can have fun on social media, but we can also be serious about learning.

Interviewer: I agree. People are smart enough. Brands need to understand that.

The Risky Business of Viral Content

Interviewer: Let’s talk about something else. Duolingo posts very provocative content. People often ask if Duolingo’s social media manager hasn’t been fired yet. How does Duolingo’s ‘risky’ content come about?

Zaria Parvez: (Laughs) I haven’t been fired yet. I’ve never felt such a threat either. To go viral, you have to take risks. Then the question becomes how much risk should you take? I call this ‘calculated risk’.

Interviewer: Calculated risk. Interesting. Can you be more specific?

Zaria Parvez: Yes. When I plan viral content, I consider these three things:

First, does the content align with the brand message?

Duolingo’s message is “language learning is difficult, but we make it fun”. So I ask myself. Does the content reflect that? Are we actually having fun? If NO, we scrap that plan.

Second, we push through even if there’s internal opposition.

Even if it aligns with the brand message and is fun, people internally might not like it. But in these cases, we push through. We post first and ask for forgiveness from other teams later. If we don’t do this, too many constraints are created.

Third, we face consumers head-on with a catcher’s mindset.

To post something bold and risky, you need to be prepared to talk with them. Post something daring and observe the comments. They’ll like some things and dislike others. And repost what they’re excited about. As these head-on encounters accumulate, consumers start to truly trust the brand.

Duolingo’s Multi-Channel Tightrope Walk

Interviewer: Duolingo’s most successful platform is TikTok. So I’m curious if you have a strategy or vision for Instagram or Shorts?

Zaria: Currently, we’re focusing on all three – TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. But we’re struggling. Because each platform is really different.

I’d like to say that TikTok and Reels are somewhat similar.
But Shorts is a disaster. It’s a completely new game. If I had to describe it, it feels like content my 13-year-old nephew might post from behind the middle school bathroom.

I’m trying to understand Generation Alpha (the generation after Millennials). But it’s not easy. Duolingo’s viral content that broke TikTok often didn’t do well on YouTube Shorts.

Jack of All Trades or Master of One

Interviewer: Very interesting. In other words, Duolingo’s social media team is cultivating specialists for each platform? Not generalists!

Zaria Parvez: Yes, that’s exactly right.

Interviewer: I completely agree. I think the biggest problem with many content teams is that they don’t build vertical knowledge for each channel. So content teams work ‘moderately’ across all channels, and stay at a ‘moderately’ good level on all channels.

Zaria Parvez: Yes, that’s exactly right. Of course, we’re still a pretty small team, so everyone has to work across multiple channels and everyone has to be across multiple channels. But designating and nurturing a ‘person in charge’ who specializes in each social media platform is very helpful. I, too, as a ‘TikTok’ expert, give feedback to others.

“This Will Go Viral”

Interviewer: Do you have a fingertip sense for viral content? For example, when you say “this will go viral,” does it actually go viral?

Zaria Parvez: Well… to conclude, it doesn’t. By the time data accumulates and I start to feel a ‘good sense’, the algorithm always changes. Each time, I feel the frustration of going back to square one.

Still, there’s one thing I feel. ‘Intuition’ helps. When an exclamation mark pops up in my head, if I quickly plan and post it, it often does very well. Conversely, when inspiration strikes, if I don’t plan quickly and things get dragged out, it doesn’t go viral. For example, things like editing or composition.

Duolingo’s Viral Formula

Zaria Parvez: Of course, there is something that could be called a ‘viral formula’. It’s ‘authenticity’. Content with authenticity often does well.

So I use four checklists to ensure authenticity in content:

First, was it fun while planning?
Second, did I genuinely laugh while planning?
Third, if I didn’t work at Duolingo and didn’t care about the brand, would I want to share this in a group chat?
Fourth, if I sent the content to my 13-year-old nephew and asked “What do you think about this?”, would the nephew answer “It’s fun!”? If the nephew says it’s not fun, we reconsider posting.

These four actually work.

The Myth of Consistency

Interviewer: Is it really important to upload consistently and regularly on TikTok? The so-called ‘daily uploads’.

Zaria Parvez: There’s a legend that if you stop posting, it’s disadvantageous to the algorithm. But I don’t think so. I think improving the quality of content is much more important than these things.

I was too stressed about having to post N times a week. As I did that, I found myself just filling and filling and filling the week. It wasn’t enjoyable. So I boldly took two whole weeks off. And what I discovered was that nobody cared. Nobody noticed that Duo had disappeared. Everyone just continued living their lives. After resting well for two weeks, I was able to produce viral content without any problems. There was no issue at all.

Through this incident, I realized two things:

First, people don’t care about me at all.
Second, because nobody cares, there’s no need to feel any pressure at all.

Don’t love (obsess over) your content too much. Even if they consume our content, it’s only for 5-10 seconds at most. They don’t care about us. Don’t feel pressured and post at your own rhythm. You’ll feel much more at ease.

Interviewer: I agree. I think we all overestimate ourselves. Except for your mother and maybe your friends, nobody will actually miss you.

Zaria Parvez: That’s exactly right.

Interviewer: And probably your mother isn’t watching your TikTok either, no offense.

Zaria Parvez: Haha. No offense taken. That’s actually true.

Should We Upload to All Platforms?

Interviewer: You mentioned earlier that you have people in charge of each platform. So should individual creators also post content on all platforms? (YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok) Many founders ask me, “Should we be everywhere?” And I say, “No, just be in one place and be the best there.” Do you agree, or do you think we should be everywhere now?

Zaria Parvez: I think it depends on what the purpose of running social media is. I believe we should exist where our customers are. And Duolingo’s customers are literally ‘everywhere’. That’s why Duo needs to exist everywhere. Duolingo’s mission is “Language learning is hard, but we make it fun”. We want to appear wherever you are and remind you of ‘today’s Spanish lesson’.

Interviewer: I see. If you’re running a CFO platform for B2B SaaS, you probably don’t need to be everywhere. You could just do really well on LinkedIn. Is that right?

Zaria Parvez: Yes, that’s correct.

Interviewer: Thank you.

Success Metrics

Interviewer: What’s the standard for ‘success’?
Is it views?
Is it subscriber conversion rate?
What are Duolingo’s SNS success metrics?

Zaria Parvez: First of all, views seem to be the easiest metric to understand. But in my opinion, the true measure of success is when people refer to Duolingo’s TikTok as a ‘home run machine’, or when people who don’t know Duolingo mention our TikTok. According to what I’ve heard from the HR team, there are people who have applied to Duolingo after seeing our TikTok. That’s amazing. I see these phenomena as success indicators for our SNS.

But if we’re talking about OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), it’s ‘views’. When we have a viral video, that is, when we hit 1 million views, the usage rate of the Duolingo App actually goes up. We’ve repeatedly confirmed this phenomenon.

But I think becoming part of the culture is the true success indicator.

Everyone Hates Advertising

Interviewer: Then what would you say to founders who say, “I’m not sure if the TikTok strategy will actually convert to paid users”? Many founders actually think these viral videos are a waste of time.

Zaria Parvez: I’d like to say kindly and honestly, “Does your Earth Day celebration post (typical content) convert to users?” And the reason I say that is because most brands have a social team.

I’d like to tell you to uncross your arms and give it a try. The Duolingo social team doesn’t ask for thousands of dollars. We only need costumes for video shooting, a sushi dinner to celebrate viral videos, and overtime pay for working a bit late. I’m telling you it’s essentially ‘free’.

And from what I’ve observed, this is a kind of ‘funnel’. ‘Making fun things fun’ is a very effective tactic even from a marketer’s perspective. Yet we don’t create ‘fun things’, we create ‘advertisements’.

We all hate advertisements. Yet our industry is focused on spending $460 billion annually to create fancy ’30-second ads’. Why? You hate it, I hate it, everyone hates it, but we keep making them. I think this is a kind of ‘industry practice’. Everyone recognizes that everyone hates ads, but can’t admit it. I think admitting this is the beginning of ‘innovation’.

How to Get $6.5M Advertisement for Free

Interviewer: We all don’t like ads. I really agree. But it seems that many brands and founders are hesitant because content marketing is difficult to measure numerically.

Zaria: I agree. Then let’s do a calculation. Even with a simple calculation, the reason to invest in content is clear (Zaria majored in marketing in college).

On average, TikTok marketers spend $9.50 per 1,000 views. This could be ads you see in your feed through paid advertising, it could be actual production costs for creating content, or it could be influencer marketing.

1,000/views * $9.5 * 650,000,000 views = $6,500,000

If we multiply $9.50 per 1,000 views by our total organic views (i.e., free views) of 650 million, we get a media value of about $6.5 million.

The amazing thing is that we got all of this for $0. Let’s conservatively estimate the production cost at about $10,000. This includes spa days for employees, the cost of moving clothes from the west coast to the east coast, and the dinners I ate on set. As a result, we got $6.5 million all for free. Because we listened to our audience and met them where they were. This led to hundreds of thousands of new app downloads.

In the eye of this storm, I feel it. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Less Money, The Better

Interviewer: $6 million… I vaguely knew, but hearing the numbers is really surprising. I completely agree with the perspective that we should invest in content marketing. Our channel also posts 4 posts a day across the channel. Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok. We upload content optimized for each platform.

But most companies find content marketing difficult. So instead of creating content directly, they use agencies. What do you think about content marketing agencies? For reference, I don’t like agencies.

Zaria Parvez: Yes, I think the same. I’m skeptical about agencies. If innovation and all these things could be bought with money, billionaires would have already purchased them. Creativity can’t be bought with money.

And this is a different story, but ironically, you need to have no money for creative ideas to come up. And I sincerely believe this. Actually, every time we performed well, my boss repeatedly said he would increase the budget. But I declined each time. The lack of money encourages creativity. I think it’s in the same context that great artists are born among young and poor people.

Thoughts on Marketing Agencies

Interviewer: Over 500,000 people watch our show. They’re all interested in content creation. And the hottest thing in the content business is definitely agency business (SMMA). SMMA can charge 20-50 million won per month. Agencies are expensive. I want to ask you if it’s worth paying that much to an agency.

Zaria Parvez: I’d like to say two things:
First, the best content will make your brand a champion.
Second, the best content will only be created by people who pay 110% attention to what you do and care about what you do.

Duolingo also hired an agency at first. And it didn’t go viral at all. When my internal team members and I started to get involved, it started to go viral.

And I think agencies are not mission-oriented. In other words, they don’t share the same mission as Duolingo. I think that’s the limitation of agencies.

As you know, people working in brands have a certain connection to their brand. And that connection creates really good content. This is a part that agencies can’t implement. So I think it’s better for brand internal members to create content, whether it’s a success or a failure. It’s not difficult. Just pick up your phone, shoot, and post.

Interviewer: I completely agree with your opinion. And I’m glad we have the same thoughts about agencies.

Duolingo’s Slump

Interviewer: Have you experienced the valley of disillusionment? I remember a time when none of our videos hit for a month or two. It was a tough time. And have you had that too?

Zaria Parvez: Surprisingly, I think I’m right in the valley of disillusionment now. And these things happen sometimes. But fortunately, thanks to having a good boss, I didn’t fall into a slump.

My boss always says, “You’re not the green owl. You’re Zaria.” “And you just do your job from 9 to 5. It’s okay if it doesn’t go viral.” This kind of boss’s words make me disconnect. This mindset is really important for content creators. Content creation is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Importance of Trends In TikTok Marketing

Interviewer: Do you think trends are important? I think trendy memes or news are much more likely to hit than inspiring words. What do you think?

Zaria Parvez: Trends are incredibly important. That’s why we never plan more than two weeks ahead. Basically, we plan the week every Monday. Two trending videos, one live campaign. Like this.

And if suddenly Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce become a trend in the middle of the week, all plans are overturned. And I’ll tell my team member, “Mel, I’m sorry but we’re not going to post that. We’re going to post about this, tweet about this.”

So we don’t ‘cherish too much’ the content we create. We do whatever goes viral. That’s our team. So our team members don’t get hurt or anything even if their planned content gets pushed back.