Duo, Please Let My Family Go: Tiptoeing the Extremes of Social Media Marketing

Love it or hate it, Duolingo, the free language-learning app, has mastered the art of memorable marketing. Known for its iconic owl mascot, Duo, the company has taken advantage of being unhinged and pushed the boundaries of social media. Twenty-four-year-old Zaria Parvez, the company’s senior global social media manager, leads the meteoric rise of Duolingo’s following on TikTok, where Duo is found completing his daily tasks; taunting users to study, shaming them for using translator apps and flirting shamelessly with singer, Dua Lipa.

Success lies in embracing the growing trend of prioritizing social media to engage younger consumers. With many companies dying out from missing this new wave of marketing, or facing public backlash for posting content that fails to connect with consumers, using these channels effectively remains a difficult challenge. Companies continuously try to find the right balance between overextending and underutilizing digital platforms, especially in an environment where consumers increasingly demand authenticity.

More Than Some Random Followers

As of April 2024, amongst the 5.44 billion internet users worldwide, 5.07 billion are social media users. Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook house content that strongly influences its users and have become crucial channels for brands to expand their reach and foster customer loyalty. Companies often employ strategies like targeted ads, influencer partnerships, and consumer engagement tactics — responding to comments,  for instance— to boost revenue and brand visibility. According to Forbes Advisor, TikTok and Instagram have emerged as the leading platforms for grasping Gen Z’s attention when discovering new brands, outperforming traditional forms of advertising, like ads on cable TV and search engines, which were not even half as effective (22% versus 51%). When executed effectively, social media marketing can attract more potential customers than traditional methods like Google ads and pop-up events, often at a lower cost.

Cost is not the only deterrent of traditional marketing tactics. Humans have always bonded over storytelling; a good story is memorable and carries a message. As generational values evolve, brands must adapt, with Gen Z expressing the importance of sharing values with a brand when making purchasing decisions. Whether it’s social equality, environmental impact, employee treatment, or appreciation of company heritage and craftsmanship, storytelling is just one way that enables brands to produce authentic content and shape the narrative surrounding their brand purpose. While Duolingo may not leverage traditional storytelling, its marketing successfully engages users through humour and relatability, demonstrating the brand’s understanding of user preferences.

Too Hot

“Like the attractive person at the end of the bar, people can smell desperation like cheap cologne, and it doesn’t make them want to dance”. To describe something or someone out of date or trying too hard, the word “cheugy” joined the regular vocabularies of many TikTok users in 2021. Arguably, a brand’s worst nightmare, being coined as cheugy, spreads like wildfire on social media apps and can be a detriment to a brand’s image. Trend-chasing, bombarding consumers with posts, and forming uninteresting partnerships with other brands or influencers are just a few ways brands reveal their desperation. Learning from Pabst Blue Ribbon’s tweet, “Not drinking this January? Try eating ass!”, which mocked individuals staying sober and using sexual references for shock value. And Tampax’s crude attempt at cracking a joke, commenting, “You’re in their DMs. We’re in them. We are not the same.” resulted in a #BoycottTampax trend on Twitter. Both brands exemplify taking unhinged humour too far and how desperation tarnishes authenticity, ultimately ending with going viral, but not for the right reasons.

Too Cold

Unlike luxury brands like Bottega Veneta or Celine, which strategically limit their social media presence to maintain an aura of exclusivity, most brands are not so fortunate. For these brands, needing to fight for their brand exposure, infrequent posts, or a lack of consumer engagement can be detrimental to staying relevant and diminish opportunities to connect with consumers. Despite its notorious failure to digitalize and filing for bankruptcy in 2012, Kodak is still standing, and film photography is returning. Relatively quiet on social media platforms like Instagram and absent on TikTok, Kodak struggles to capitalize on this renewed interest. Another company back from the dead, Abercrombie & Fitch, turned its 90s image of shirtless models, appealing to teens and proudly size exclusionary, to one in 2024 that vouches for inclusivity and more mature wear. Despite its successful rebrand and large following on social media, Abercrombie struggles with consumer engagement and has a relatively low loyalty of thirteen percent.

Just Right

Hacking social media marketing looks different for every brand and is about finding a niche. Whether building community-driven content, forming strategic partnerships, or using humour to engage audiences, each approach is unique. Gymshark, a British athletic apparel retailer founded in 2012, became a billion-dollar company in just eight years, supported by a tight-knit fitness community backed by influencers where individuals could share goals and see themselves in other Gymshark advocates. Similarly, GoPro’s user-generated content blended with emotional storytelling has captivated its 20.8 million followers on Instagram and solidified its message as a camera for “creators”. These brands demonstrate how letting their users drive storytelling can lead to success. Not only increasing their user base but also profitability, showcasing the tangible benefits of weaving authenticity into social media marketing strategies.

Social media marketing is still relatively new, and the journey to mastery is ongoing. Even companies like Duolingo have faced criticism, but their sincere apologies and willingness to adapt have been pivotal to their success. As social media influence continues to grow and more generations cannot imagine life without it, maintaining an online presence and producing authentic content is vital to connecting with consumers. The future of social media marketing holds exciting opportunities for businesses to unleash their creativity. In a world where an aggressive talking green owl can capture the hearts of millions, the potential for success is boundless, waiting for brands bold enough to seize it.