YouSaid · the spoken record

Zaria Parvez

lines on the record: 56
first: 2024-01-19
most recent: 2024-01-19
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I think there's two ways to think about it, honestly. I think one, I grew up with TikTok. Like that was what I was doing and using and like grow up as in being in college. Like that's just what I was on. And like during the pandemic, I was just on it. And this was a native platform to me. So I already kind of knew how it worked and how it functioned and what worked well and what didn't work and what made me laugh. And then I think the real tipping point for me was when TikTok mentioned that they had one billion users. And this was in September of 2021. And I remember so distinctly thinking if people are on TikTok, they're not on our app. So how do we bring people back to our app? And I'm a firm believer, and I know RCO said this too, that I don't think like Babel or Rosetta Stone or other language learning places are our actual competitors, like our real competitors are like TikTok and other social media platforms that are taking the attention away from doing your daily lesson. So how do we use that to our advantage?”
2024-01-19 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How Duolingo Scaled to 8M TikTok Followers, How to Create Viral Content, Why Most Companies Suck at Content Marketing and How to Change & Why You Should Not Work with Content Agencies with Zaria Parvez, Global Social Media Manager @ Duolingo · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Today, but it was just different. It was unexpected, and no brand was doing it yet. And I think that was kind of our insight in. And it was like these small human moments that I think has made our TikTok kind of blow up.”
2024-01-19 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How Duolingo Scaled to 8M TikTok Followers, How to Create Viral Content, Why Most Companies Suck at Content Marketing and How to Change & Why You Should Not Work with Content Agencies with Zaria Parvez, Global Social Media Manager @ Duolingo · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it was the night of today of like being in an office for the first time. Like I always say the reason why our TikTok was so successful is because I didn't really know all that much about advertising, if I'm being honest. Like I was a new grad. I kind of had fresh eyes on it. And I remember walking into the office. And this is like after a pandemic. I don't know. But when the office opened for the first time and things were coming back to normal and I walk into the office and there was this big green owl, which is the suit we all know and love today, just sitting in the corner. And I was like, that is so freaking weird. Like, why is it just there? No one's reacting, whatever. And at the time, it was just meant for like people team stuff where they go to recruiting events and then the owl pops up. And I love TikTok on my own. Like I was already consuming it. And I was like, what if I just make like a funny piece of content off of this? And it was nothing crazy risky. It was nothing like, I would say to the extent of what you may see do I was TikTok do.”
2024-01-19 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How Duolingo Scaled to 8M TikTok Followers, How to Create Viral Content, Why Most Companies Suck at Content Marketing and How to Change & Why You Should Not Work with Content Agencies with Zaria Parvez, Global Social Media Manager @ Duolingo · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And all that stuff together. So, yeah, that's what brought me here. And then for content, if I'm being honest with you, I started off for a whole year of just doing normal like happy Earth Day posts and things you'd expect a language learning app to do. And it wasn't until a little bit later that we started taking more risks and creating the content we do now.”
2024-01-19 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How Duolingo Scaled to 8M TikTok Followers, How to Create Viral Content, Why Most Companies Suck at Content Marketing and How to Change & Why You Should Not Work with Content Agencies with Zaria Parvez, Global Social Media Manager @ Duolingo · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think it's not a typical story, but also feels pretty typical. I was a pandemic graduate, so I graduated in 2020, and I did advertising and marketing in school. So it was kind of a natural next step. But as for Duolingo, I actually wanted to be in a super small city. I did not like New York. I did not like Asian sea culture. So trying to figure out like what does that mean for me? And Duolingo, like, popped out to me mainly because the mission of Duolingo is really near and dear to my heart. It's to make education accessible, but what's even deeper to me than that mission of what it is is that it was an inherently diverse place. Like it's been founded by two immigrants, like people who just, you have to speak different languages here for that. And so you're around people from different cultures, different backgrounds. And just to clarify, you don't actually have to speak another language to work here, but like around you, like you'll hear it and you'll see it and you're a part of that. And that comes with a culturals and different cultures.”
2024-01-19 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How Duolingo Scaled to 8M TikTok Followers, How to Create Viral Content, Why Most Companies Suck at Content Marketing and How to Change & Why You Should Not Work with Content Agencies with Zaria Parvez, Global Social Media Manager @ Duolingo · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The best way to start is to steal like an artist. I say that because a lot of TikTok is like copying each other. Like that is the truth of it. I always say our TikTok is like a sitcom. Everything we put out there is an episode. I would say you have to hire troublemakers. Troublemakers are the ones that are causing seismic cultural shifts.”
2024-01-19 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: How Duolingo Scaled to 8M TikTok Followers, How to Create Viral Content, Why Most Companies Suck at Content Marketing and How to Change & Why You Should Not Work with Content Agencies with Zaria Parvez, Global Social Media Manager @ Duolingo · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source