Duolingo’s content strategy
Not only has Duolingo grown their Tiktok account from 0 to 11.7 mill subscribers in less than 3 years, they’ve also created a persona for their brand (their brand mascot, duo.), and an entire fanbase for him.
This is because they focus on entertainment rather than selling their actual service.
So, Duo is the bird that you see in all of their content. He’s a menace to society and literally scares ppl into doing their duo lesson
We see this in videos on tiktok, youtube, and with posts on twitter.
Outside of social media, Duolingo take its a step further. With widget facial expressions, like these ones when you haven’t completed your lesson:
To this one when you have completed it:
And also their app facial expressions. Like this one where a user pointed out that the Duolingo bird on the app turns old when you haven’t used it in a while. And another person citing that theirs might “be off some percs”. One girl even said “lmao, why is this the most dramatic app?”.
All of this causes the audience to look past the service itself and experience this sort of omnichannel experience with the duo bird.
We see the same thing happen with Dr. Miami. Where he doesn’t focus on the service itself, but rather he does skits to elevate his own brand and others in his office. So much so that when his social media manager, Santina (who was the mastermind behind the content strategy), stopped working there fans were literally torn on the breakup.
Now, some people ask, does this really convert to more sales? I don’t think Duolingo or Dr. Miami look at it that way… It’s getting them growth on socials, which in return elevates the brand name, and converts to sales over time.
Some other brands/mascots I think can benefit from this are: McDonalds, Geico, Flo with progressive, and Jake from State Farm.
So how do you think your brand would benefit from this? Would you want to post unhinged content for the sake of growth? And do you think a brand can make a persona without a mascot?
Let us know below!
Watch our breakdown on Youtube: