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喔耶耶耶喔
Okay
So have you seen this do will lingo on tiktok
Oh Yeah
There doing some pretty crazy stuff over there crazy good
They've got like eight point
Eight million followers
Wow
Really and over one hundred ninety million likes that's insane
It's like the biggest brand account on the whole platform
I mean it's
It's language lelearning
You won't think right
You wouldn't they
They be crushing it on tiktoso
So are they doing ing
That's
That's actly what
What 're going to dig into like what's the secret t ze
Yes
We're going to try and figure out how they went megogoa exactly so for this deep dive
We really wanted to get into the minds of the people behind it
Yeah
Get up behind the scenes
Look at their strategy for sure
And we actually found this awesome youtube interview
Oh Yeah
With who zaria provez hold on isn't she the creatively lead behind dual lingos tiktok
Yeah
That's her so she's the best ter my pretty much
She did this interview on twenty vc with hairy stabbing
Oh
I've heard of that show lots of good insights on there
Yeah
And sari was full of them
She basically started their tikk k account back in september
Twenty
Twenty one
That's not even that long ago considering how big they are now right
And she really leaned into their mascot
You know the oall do a do o yeah
She saw the potential the humor in it
And it obviously worked
So our goal today is to break down
What's up
Arria shared in that interview figure out the key strategies and insights
That may do a lingerous tikk k such a hit and most importantly for you listening
We want to see
If we could apply those lessons to well pretty much anything
Content creation
Marketing even just understanding how to connect with people online
Exactly so let's rewind all way back to the beginning
How did this whole thing even get started
So sara a gragraated ted in twenty oowow right in the middle of pandemic yep with a degree and advertising and marketing
Okay
So she's got the background
But why do llino
I was wondered that too
What couple of reasons
What she was looking for a job in pitzburg
Good spperg
It's not exactly like new york or alay
No
It's a smaller city
But that appealed to her interesting
对的对对
Different kind of vibe and the second reason dual olingos mission making education accessible
Right their whole thing is breaking down language barriers
She was drawn wn that that and their culture too it was it like super diverse
It's kind of baked into their dna
You know
Also well their founders are immigrants
Ah that makes sense and obviously language learning attracts people from all over
So you're immersed in different languages and cultures
Even if you don't speak multiple languages
Yourself it's just part of the environment
Okay
So she's to duolingo in pitesberg
In this diverse environment
What were her first steps on tiktok
At first
She was doing
You know typical brand stuff like what happy earthday posts
You know the kind
Yeah Yeah
Trying to be relatable positive
But not really making wawaisn't really move ve the ddle exactly not a lot of engagement and what what owle comes in that's the turning point
It's kind of funny
Actually she literally found the dual olingo o masascocostustume just lying around in the office
It was mostly used for recruiting events before that so not really part of their social media strategy at all nope but zara a saw and immediately thought this could be hilarithen is a giant green alall exactly and zaria she's a tikk k native
And she gets the platform
She was already using it personally yeah all through college and during the psdemic
So she had a feel for what work exactly
What makes people laugh
What goes viral okay
So she sees the l
She gets tikk k
And she puts two into together
Starts making these funny videos with the all sleaning into the absurd exactly not your typical brand content tapping into those little relatiable human moments
I'm starting to get it
But why tikk k specifically one on instagrammer there was a big moment in september
Twenty
Twenty one what happen
Tikk k announced they had hit a billion users
A billion
A billion
It clicick for aria
If people were on tikk kk y're not on do a lingingo
So their competition wasn't just other language abs s right was anything vying for peoppeople's attention time spent ds grow is time not spent learning
Exactly
So they had to get on tiktok meet people
Where they were and loure them back to the app
Precisely make language learning part the entertainment that's clever okay
So there are on tikk kk y've got the oul
Now they need to create the content
That's their thinking about it as art in science
That's how zaria puts it
What does that even mean she believes you need both the science is knowing how tiktok works okay
The algorithm
The trenor exactly all the technical stuff
Any art
That's the creativity
The humor making the content actually engaging so you can understand the rules
The game before you can play well one hundred percent
And that's reflected in how they hiire for their team
They don't just look for marketing degrees
Nope they prioritize content creation skills
So someone who can spot a trending sound film quick video right to catch y caption
And they have a specific test for new highs
What's up
Can you create something
Entertaining something timely
That's what matters more than a fancy resume
Yeah
It's about proving you can make content that works on tikk k interesting
So how do they actually come up with ideidefor their videos is it all just chasing viral trends
What's up
They did a lot of what zararia cls dealing like an artist so copying what works basically
But always giving credit of course okay so paying ommage
Yeah
And it makes sense tikk k is all about iteration wwould dn't mean like taking an existing trend
A ound or or format and putting your own spin on it right
So they were learning the language of tiktok by speaking it exactly
But they realized you can't just copy forever
You got to starp your own voice
And that's when they started creating story lines relines like atv show zaria actually compares their tikk kka sit com wait
Seriously
Yeah
Each videos like an episode
So there's an overarching narrative exactly recurring characters inside jokes
All that who are the main characters besides duo obviously well
There's legal steve
The general council
The bain of duos existing exactly
Deois always trying to get away with something and legal steve they're to stop him
I love that anyone else silly
She's like the eternally exaserrated email girl always getting dragged into the o's schemes reluctantly
But she's always there sounds like a fun crew
And they do crossvers with other brands
Yeyeah
Yeah
Scrub daddy
The cleaning product
The telll tubby is even made in appearance
Okay now it's getting weird
But in a good way
In the best way
And what's the point of these story lines
Besides been hilarious
I mean they build a connection with the audience
It's not not just ranof vivios anymore the whole world you can step into
Exactly it makes people want to keep coming back back to see what happens next
But what about new followers they're coming in cold
But the thing do a lingo doesn't really care
They don't explain the inside jokes
Nope zararius says they just drop them in the deepest part of ocecean and swim wh
哦 Wow
That's bold their philosophy is people are smarter than you think so though they figured it out theare those scrow back thethey're really curious or just enjoy the chaos
Exactly okay
But is all this silingness ever backfire right i mean does it hurt their credibility
That's
That's fair quesquesright like people think think
Oh
Do lingingles just goophin off
They're not serious about language learning
They thought about that a lot yeah responsponses you can be
Both you can be funny on social media
And still be a great language learning out
Is that like one councils out the other right
And they trust their audience understand that so do all their videos have to be about language learning
Not at all in fact
They think that would be a mistake
How come people go on tiktok for a break
For entertainment
Not for a grammar
Lesson exactly so duolingo meets them
Where they are grababs their attention with something fun
And maybe just maybe sparks an interest in language learning down the line okay
So where do the ideas for these crazy videos actually come from in the early days
A lot of it came from zarria herself like her own observation
Yeah things
She saw around the office little quarks
I can see that offices could be pretty strange places
And she paid close attention to the comments on the videos s comcomsex
She calls it
Her social brief
What does that even mean
It means people would make jokes point out pattern
And you turn those in the content
Exactly like the whole legal steve thing came from a comment
Wow
Really yeah
Now theyve got a slightly bigger ger team
So it k it ll ll ll x one
But they still move that
So it have a slelechannenel
They
They are ideideas trending chanounds video concepts
So it is very collaborate and quick
It's not like they have these big brainstorming session
Quick
So they still move that
You think exactly very acchl interesting
Now zara also talked about the importance of their office environment
Yeah
The physical space which is kind of surprising right yeah
In the age of remote work
You think they be all digital
But zara believes the office sparked a lot of their creativity
Like how well for one
The outsuit was just there ready ready be be used any any random video
And they were resourceful in one video
They used a water bottle as any microphone
That's amazing so about being scrappy using what they had
And just the energy of being together bouncing ideas off each other make sense now with all this success do they feel pressure to keep going viral
Zara says
She doesn't feel pressure from the community itself because they builbuilt that trust
Yeah
The community gets it some videos hit some don't
But what about internal pressure
Oh Yeah
She feels that from the marketing team must be tough to keep topping himselves
Shsh's still pretty young in her career
It's her first job in her college
So she's learning to manage those expectations and accepting that not every video will be a smash hit
So they're focusing hit talk what about other platforms like reals
Short Yeah
They just reurposing the same content everywhere at first they tried that it didn't really work different platforms
Different vibe exactly
But now they are active on tikk k reals and short
And they're seeing some patterns tikk k and reals feel similar in terms of what works yeah
是的 对
K shorts a whole other beast has so zari even jokes that
It's like what heers thirteen year old nepwood post
Oh No
So they adapt for reals
They do about seventy five percent rip and replace from tikk kk straight up posing the same thing
And then the other twenty five percent they tweak it based on what they've learned about reals so to mix of like direct transfer and platform specific adjustments yep
And they leverage the different generations on their team um smart get insights from the millennios
The gensee exactly to tailor the content okay
So here's the big question can you actually predict vality
The millionllar question does saria have a crystal ball
Sadly know she wishes
She says the algorithm changes constantly so what works one day might flap the next exactly
And she admits sometimes they get too close to the content
They lose perspective
Yeah
Like is this actually funny or we just tired they how do they gauit did zara has a lititness test okay
What's that did she have fun making it
Which she share with friends
If it wasn't for work inteactly so she got feeling personal enjoyment
And they get outside feedback too like from her thirteen year old nephew brutal honesty from the target demo exactly keeps them grounded now how often do they post this is interesting in ari a believes quality
Trump quality
So so it's not about posting every single day
She's tried that pushing out content just to stick to a schedule
It led to burn out
And the content wasn't as good so less is more in this case
Yeah
She's learned to take breaks
And it didn't hurt their growth
Her point is no one's really missing branded content harsh ptrue
So they're on tikk kk als shorts do they need to be on every single platform right
What's there overall strategy
Zarara says
It comes down to their brand truth like their core values
Exactly
One is language learning is heart
So we make it fun
That's catching
And the other one is duo is freaking everywhere
So their mascott is their ambassador
Yeah
He's there to remind you to do your duolingo al lessons no matter where you go online
Exactly
But her advice to other brands first figure out your truths first
Your values
Your strategy then decide where you need to be
Not everyone needs to be on every platform good point
Ok
They've obviously done a lot right
They've made mistagest mone one does what were some of their biggest learning moments
What was realizing the scale of their audience
It's easy to forget
You're talking to millions of people
Yeah
Zaria learn to be more careful about what they put up there make sense anything else
Oh Yeah
There was this my little pony audio trend
Oh No
No think anyanywhere this is going
They used it
But it came across as unintentionally sexual loops
Yeah
The cee o had to ask them to take it down
Oh
Corit was was lesson there that trends can be interpreted
Differently by different people
But what flies on tikk kk not fly with the ceo exactly
But the good thing is do a lingoo has a pretty forgiving culture
So they can learn for their mistakes
Yeah
They're loved experiexperiment
Yeah
So how do they actually measure success beyond just views and likes at first it was all about brand awareness getting their name out there a million views ws was like huhuge went
But now they look deeper like do people talk about dual lingers techtok k side side the app
So has it become part part of conconsasaexactly
And
And they track if job applicants mention tikk k
That's a good sign
Shows that it's impacting their perception of the brand
And are people actually download the apapbecause of tikk k
They tracked that they asked people how they heard about duolingo clever
But for zara the biggest win is just being part of the culture ture
Having an impact shaping the conversation
Exactly
Okay
Let's say i'm a founder aceo
And i'm still not convinced about techk kk
Keptical about the ry
Yeah
How with zaria convincce me she ask are your current marketing efforts working any better are your happy earth day posts bringing in users too shape
And sh'd point out
They did a lot of this on a small budget
It show organic
I didn't need a huge agency or anything right
And it's about connecting with people meeting them them where tapping into those human truth
Exactly she's also a big fan of the candy to the medicine strategy
Weweve for that phrase a few times
The candy is the entertaining content like the ole thirsting after dual eapa yep
The medicine is the subtle plug for the app
Okay
I get it so entertain first then stinkle the message
Exactly
Now zaria is all about doing tiktok in house
Why is that
Why not hire agency
They're supposed to be the experts
Zarria thinks the best content comes from people
Who are passionate about the brand so internal champion
Yeah
They actually did work within an agency early on before zara was really involved bad
It didn't go great the content felt off
Didn't capture the duolinginggo ib
Exactly
Zari believes agencies just don't have that same connection
That mission driven feeling and her advice to founders just start creating pick your your phone to go
Exactly downlow tikk kk roll for ten minutes pick a sound and film
Something exexcuses no
Now all this wouldn't have happened without the right internal support it's true
是的是的
Duolingo o had to be willing to let zaria
You know do her thing a young employee basically changing their whole social media strategy
And zaria gives a lot of credit to her first boss
It was that apr manager it due lyingoo she was super supportive trusted ararious vision
And theve her the space to experiment
So they had a good dynamic from the start
Yeah
They're growing pains
Of course whoa big shift for the company and the culture was good lots of open communication
A shared excitement about social media
That's crucial okay
The area also talks about the role of luck
Right you can't discount entirely what did she say about it
She acknowledges that luck played apart
Having a supportive family access to education the right internships
Lenning at the right company
The right time
Yeah
She calls it access an opportunity
But it wasn't just lock
Obviously no way she worked hard
She was dedicated always learning so lock mde open the door
But you ck have to walk through it exactly make the most of those opportunities
And she believes given the same access anyone can replicate her success exacsting
So it's about about levelling the playing field making sure everyone has the chance to shine okay
Now this is where it gets a little spicy
Oh Yeah
Zaria talks about hiring trouble makers for social media
Trouble makers like actual trouble
Not exactly
She means people who push boundaries
People who aren't afraid to be unconventional
People challenges this
That ad is quo
She even calls them red tton people willing to press the button
That everyone else is scared of
Exactly
And she's speaking from experience like how she got suspended from from versity
And her resume wasn't exactly traditional
So she's been a bit of a trouble maker herself
And she believes those are the people who drive cultural chess the ones who are and afraid to take risks
Exactly
And she thinks companies need to trust those instincts
Even if they make some people uncomfortable
Which is why a communication is important
Right you have to be able to talk
Openly bridge the gap between different departments
Okay
How do they deal with real time content
Like when something blows up online
They're all about it
They jump on trends quickly
Sarria says
Those culturally relevant moments are huge for them way more impacful than their regular stuff
So they have this system
A video card system
Nose
I mean if anyone on the team sees a trend that feels right for duolingo o like that taylor swift and trava's killshare thing yep
Exactly they can basically hit pause on everything else and prioritize that trend make sense
So how far ahead do they plan their content not for it all two weeks maacks well that's pretty ajo they have weekly assignments
But it's all very fluid
So they can adapt on the fly
Exactly if something big happens they can shift gearars quickly
The name of the game is staying relevant for sure
Now zara a talk about the hardest thing about creating content
Today what you say it's that balance between copying what works and being original
Now the eternal struggle and she admits
It's hard not to get attached to your own ideas to take criticism to pive it
When something isn't working and things change so fast
New trends
New platforms
It's like a constant goose chase
She said to yet to be adaptable
Willing to let go
And really know your brand identity
You can't just copy what every influencers doing just stay treat yourself exactly okay last thing that candy to the medicine strategy right
How does it actually look in practice
Can you give us the concrete example
So let's say they make a video about duos obsession with dual lip a that's the candy
It's funny
It's engaging people love it then in the caption
They might say something like practice your spanish
So you can sing along to do a leap as latest hit subtle but effective
Or they might leave a comment mentioning duolingingo plus the premium version of exactly so you get the entertainment
But then there's a gentle nudge towards the product smart okay final piece of advice for founders who want to win at tiktok
Zarah says
Find your passionate people not necessarily your marketing people right it could be anyone someone who lives in brief
Tikk k
She even jokes about hiring a standard comedian someone who just gets it whose humor algance with the platform exactly okay
So before we wrap up zarria shared some of her favorite social media accounts always good to get recommendations from the prose on twitter
She loves the new jersey state government account really what's so great about it arently their hilarious really engaging tweets
I'to checked out out
Titikk k e's a big fanescrub daddy
The cleaning product again yep same one
And the've actually collaborated on content interesting
And for a longer form content
She mentioned liquid death
The canned water company yep she admires their branding
Their overall execution make sense
They're doing some really creative stuff
And then in the rapid fire around a few things stood out
Oh Yeah
Feel me in
She thinks it's way harder to win socisocimemedia that he used to be because there's so much more competition exactly
And her biggest worry
对对对
The tiktok might get banned
Oh wow
Yeah
That would be a game changer
And she's concerned about creating content that lasts
Content that goes beyond just a fleeting trend
Yeah
Building something with real staying power
That's a challenge for everyone in the content in these days and interestingly they haven't seen a huge correlation between their tiktok success not growth on other platforms not directly
No
But viral tick kk do m to drive app downloadd ah make sense people see the funny video
Then they check out the out
And this was a surprise
She's noticed to rise in engagement on linked in really youelin the place
Where everyone's super serious apparently so especially among jsez hh interesting
Maybe it's becoming the new cool place to be
Who knows they
Finally they asked her
Where she sees herself in ten years
What you say becoming ceo of duolingo
No
Her answer was superchill
Oh Yeah
She wants like stable able nine five good work work life balance
Maybe even early retirement
Wow
Good for her sounds like she's got her priority straight okay
So we've covered a lot
What of the key takey is here well first be open to the unexpected
You never know what you're next big idea will come from giant greenall costume exactly and understand your platform what works on tikk k might not work on reals asshorts
Don't just copy in paace right and find that balance embrace trends
But also developed your own voice
Your own story lines build the world
That people want to be a part of and trust your audience
There's smarter than you think and finally credit they deserve and finally a believe in the power of internal passion in power
Your people to create
You might just be surprised by what they come up with
And here's one the last thought for you to ponder
嗯
What are your human truth
