Duolingo’s Masterminded Social Listening Ways

I’ve used the app for a very long time and the Tremendous Bowl advert was a kind of issues the place, in the event you don’t get it or in the event you didn’t get it within the 5 seconds that it was on display, you have been like, ‘What was that?’

And you then needed to Google it.

To what extent was that a part of the technique, and did you see a giant uptick in individuals trying to find the model?

We requested ourselves, ‘What’s one thing {that a} Disney character would have that Duo doesn’t have?’

“That’s a cringeworthy theatrical reside present on ice.”

—Katherine Chan, international head of social media, Duolingo

Undoubtedly within the transient we knew that if we solely have 5 seconds, it most likely can be actually laborious to convey complicated ideas or insights. So within the transient, we have been like, ‘Okay, what can we do in 5 seconds that can seize consideration and create a WTF second?’ We deliberately designed the spot to be that method, and we positively noticed an uptick by way of customers in search of us, commenting about us—and that translated into the app as nicely.

To what extent do you attempt for continuity in telling Duo’s story? For instance, Duo had infants with Scrub Daddy. Is that one thing that you just’re going to comply with up on? Ought to we assume that the Duo that’s featured in every of those bits is identical Duo or a special variation of him?

To be sincere, it’s slightly bit fluid. At this level, we’ve about eight or so TikTok accounts. Plenty of them are market-specific. So like, Duolingo Japan, or Duolingo Germany, for instance. We’ve barely totally different Duo’s per market, and we name it the Duo Multiverse. At the very least per particular person account, we attempt to maintain some continuity within the narratives and storylines, however we go away room for flexibility. Realistically, most individuals are experiencing social media on a post-by-post, very atomized foundation. So, we strive to not be too valuable about it.

How did you give you the Duolingo on Ice thought?

April Idiot’s is a second that we’ve captured as a model for a number of years now, going again to earlier than I even began. The primary marketing campaign was like 5 years in the past. We’ve tried to construct it larger and larger since then. The Duolingo on Ice thought got here from the perception that we’ve this inside, I suppose you name it a ‘North star metric’—that we would like Duo to be extra well-known than Mickey Mouse. We requested ourselves, ‘What’s one thing {that a} Disney character would have that Duo doesn’t have?’ That’s a cringeworthy theatrical reside present on ice. It simply appeared to suit the narrative of Duo thirsting to be a star. Usually talking, we consider our Duolingo accounts as Duo’s social accounts. He form of posts as an influencer would, proper? It’s extra about him and his character than our product.