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Office Hours: I’m the Director of Content Strategy at Duolingo. I’m Samantha Zabell. AMA!Featured

samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 24
Posted in:Office HoursManagement and LeadershipCareer Growth

Hi Elphas!

I’m Samantha Zabell, the Director of Content Strategy at Duolingo.

A trained journalist and now seasoned brand strategist, I’m motivated by crafting meaningful stories about our world. At Duolingo, I oversee content marketing for our global brand, including the Duolingo blog (>20MM quarterly visits) and our executive communications program.

Before Duolingo, I was an audience strategist at Medium, and before that, I worked as an editor for Real Simple magazine, launching their social strategy and piloting their Instagram Stories and Facebook Live strategies (yes, remember those?) I also hosted a podcast for nearly 3 years called “Adulthood Made Easy,” and filmed more than 100 episodes!

During my downtime, I love to read and write fiction. You can read some of my work at samanthazabell.com.

Ask me anything about writing, brand strategy, journalism, content strategy, work-life balance, or anything else!

ElphaStaff'sElphaStaff·Jun 24
Thanks so much for joining us @samanthazabell!Elphas – please ask @samanthazabell your questions before Friday, June 28th. @samanthazabell may not have time to answer every questions, so emoji upvote your favorites 🔥👍🏾➕
MandyWong'sMandyWong·Jun 24
Hi @samanthazabell - awesome to see you here! I've been using Duolingo for several years learning French (my husband is Parisian). I love the gamification in the app and feel that repetition is the key to learning a new language as an adult. Sometimes I get busy and forget to do my lessons. I often receive funny (or not-so-funny) emails from Duo with headlines such as "Your French skills are getting moldy!" or "How do you say QUITTER in French?" Curious about your POV on this "tough love" coaching messaging. I don't find it motivating to be honest, but I wonder what the strategy behind the email/CRM copywriting is and how it reflects on representing the brand tone/personality overall. Thanks so much! :)
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
This is a great question @MandyWong, thank you! There is a lot of testing that goes into all of our messaging, especially email and push notifications, because they reach such a wide base of learners. In an ideal world, we find the exact right motivational message for every individual learner but we’re not there yet :’) One thing that you’re picking up on here is the desire to create a brand expression that reflects both the fun/silly Duo you see on social media and the encouraging/energetic Duo you see in your lessons. There’s definitely room for in-app Duo to embrace his “other” personality, and we’ve started doing that more with these edgier notifications, our homescreen widget, etc. It’s all about testing though, and we don’t launch any message that hasn’t shown to positively impact our metrics.
MorganLucas'sMorgan·Jun 26
" "How do you say QUITTER in French?""I laughed out loud at this, if I got something in Chinese that said "We have 1.6 billion people speaking our language, we don't need YOU!", I'd laugh.
bekahhugs'sbekahhugs·Jun 26
I also find Duo's tough love approach amusing haha. The tone of their content coupled with the sassy mascot gives their brand more of a human touch, at least for me . Even with my German tutor I made sure to find someone who would challenge and push me without sugar coating and that style works for me! Having said that, I can see how it's not everyone's cup of tea.
glenelys'sglenelys·Jun 27
@samanthazabell Thank you for sharing your story and your time with us. I love the topic of your podcast! Adulthood is near and dear to me. I just founded the Levanto Collective, vialevanto.com, a vibrant community of young women of color mastering life skills tailored to their unique experiences and ambitions. As I just launched, any strategies you recommend to create brand awareness and build trust? I have a small newsletter, IG, and just started a tiktok, but the internet feels like a vast place for a new brand to get noticed.
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Congrats on the launch @glenelys! Sounds like you're doing all of the right things. What I hear most from the platforms I work with is that consistency is key—establish whatever kind of posting schedule (weekly, twice a week) and stick to it in the beginning. Also, over-engage with your audience to build trust! Community management is a really undervalued but important piece of building a brand—replying to comments, answering questions, etc. The internet is really big and growth is hard! One of the easiest ways to jumpstart your growth is going to be by using other brands/shows/newsletters that can spotlight your work. You might consider pitching yourself as a guest on podcasts that might let you plug your own, or guest-writing a newsletter column, anything that can help you expose yourself to new audiences.
allisonk'sallisonk·Jun 24
Hello Samantha, thank you for sharing your time and wisdom with us! Congrats on your podcast - what a cool project!Very curious if you have any go-to resources on storytelling and world-building that you'd recommend. What's the biggest aha! moment you've had in content strategy? So glad to come across a fellow creative writer! :)
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Thank you @allisonk! I’m not sure if the first question is on fiction or non-fiction world building, so I’ll answer it from a fiction perspective. I loved George Saunders’ “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain”--it’s so instructional in a really engaging way, it’s like you’re getting a mini class on Russian lit and you walk away with great inspiration for your own storytelling. Otherwise, I really like Kathy Fish’s substack on Flash Fiction, she always includes really creative prompts and ideas on how to build character, story, etc!In terms of an “aha” moment, I’m not sure I have had one! (Unsatisfying answer, but better than me making one up, I think?)
allisonk'sallisonk·Jun 30
Thank you! I will check out Kathy's newsletter and A Swim in the Pond! No worries about the "aha" moment :)
kmane'skmane·Jun 26
Hi Samantha! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. How much research is involved in a marketing job day-to-day? Do you have to condense information from multiple sources of data and user analytics, or is there some sort of 'hub' where you can see everything for you?
sydcreates'ssydcreates·Jun 25
Hi Samantha, Thanks for opening up to questions from the community!I wonder: when managing a brand and untold stacking projects with rolling deliverables, how do you keep all of the plates spinning? Do you have any recommended readings on planning for marketing initiatives farther down the pipeline than "It's live in three days?" Thank you!
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Hi @sydcreates 👋 I imagine I have a different answer to this than our social team, who manage way more plates than I do! But we are planning a big blog redesign which we’ve been at work on for 6 months. It’s very close to launch, it involved a lot of stakeholders and competing timelines, and we just had a product review where we got some feedback that will delay launch by a few weeks. I don’t think there’s anything I could have read that would have prepared me for it. I think the best thing to do is to pick an organizational system (whether it’s Asana, Google Sheets, Trello, etc) and stick to it, overcommunicate, and be transparent about deadlines. If you won’t hit something, shout that early and often, so that no one is surprised and, more importantly, if it’s a huge priority people can step in and support you and get you the resources to make it happen.
kmdenysejones'skmdenysejones·Jun 27
Hi, @samanthazabell! What are the essential ingredients for content that truly resonates with a chosen audience?
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
I think the most important ingredient is specificity. Go for the singular audience you want, and that engagement will be way better than if you create something that works for "everyone" or if you don't have a really clear audience in mind. You see this a lot with our social team, who create incredible content for very specific communities/fandoms, knowing that these videos aren't necessarily going to satisfy our entire audience, but that it will really speak to a subsection who will feel very "seen" by Duo!
yihuang'syihuang·Jun 27
Hi Samantha, Thanks so much for hosting office hours. I've been using Duolingo for several years, and notice many friends outside US use the app, making the content really global. With Duolingo used across the globe, how do you bring the brand and content tailored and relevant to the country?
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
@yihuang I love this question! We are very lucky to have a team of content marketing managers for a lot of our key markets outside of the U.S., and they all work with agencies in their market to ensure they’re building content that has local resonance. We also have a really excellent localization team that can take the content we make for the Duolingo blog and not just translate it, but really transcreate it for their audience. A good example is all of the content we’re building for English learners—if we want to write a post about how to use the verb “to be” in English, we can write the foundational text in English but it’s a very different post if you’re reading it in Japanese or German, because those two languages have very different grammar rules that are used in comparison to help you understand the English concept. So it’s a cross-functional effort, and involves a lot of collaboration with people on the ground in the language/market we’re working in!
MorganLucas'sMorgan·Jun 24
Ooh :o Howdy Samantha! As someone who has been using Duolingo for 2 years this Saturday to learn Chinese, let me say, coupled with videos, other apps, and my native speaker friend, it's helped me to the point where I can actually correct translations from Chinese to English.What part, if any, do you have in the April Fools jokes? I hum "Spanish or Vanish" sometimes still.
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
I wish I had any part in it! That's all from our brand marketing team and they are brilliant. And omg I had JUST GOTTEN THAT SONG OUT OF MY HEAD!!!! 😂
Carmina149·Jun 26
Hi Samantha, thank you for offering to share insights and tips here! How do you stay keep an eye for new content strategies / tools etc? Where do you find your inspiration? Can you share what are a content strategist “must haves”? How do you set healthy boundaries with work and personal life / mental health? Thanks so much!
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Hi! Great questions!1. Mostly from groups like this, or like-minded content marketing groups. I put out a call on LinkedIn last year reaching out to content marketers at other brands who might be willing to have an informal chat and got so many responses. Through those conversations, I got to hear a lot about tools other brands were using, how they built their teams, successes/challenges... these conversations were so much more inspiring/helpful than anything I could've found on Google.2. I don't know about "must haves" because I imagine it differs depending on the brand, the team, what falls into the "content marketing" bucket at that particular brand... but for me, the most important skills I have are really strong writing/editing skills, a basic understanding of performance metrics, and strong communication (I can help people get the core of their idea out in just a few sentences, and I can clearly communicate to stakeholders the importance of any given idea). 3. Takes a while to do, but I am bullish on not responding to things on the weekends (fully turning off Slack notifications) and deleting Slack/email when on vacation. I'm lucky that I can do this because I have the support of my team, and I'm not in a critical role where things break and die when I leave, but setting those hard boundaries has been really useful. Also my sister is a pediatric cardiologist, so that definitely helps me keep my "crises" in perspective 🤣
priyankaprasad'spriyankaprasad·Jun 25
Hi Samantha,Wonderful to e-meet you!Have a couple of questions for you1. How do you prepare content strategy usually?2. How much and what content do you consume to create new content?3. What are your thoughts on leveraging AI in content startegy?4. I run a podcast called Founder Stories with Priyanka Prasad. How do you think i can monetize this podcast?5. What does you day-to day workflow look like?
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Good qs @priyankaprasad... I’ll answer just a few of these (I’m not the best resource on monetizing a podcast… I worked with Slate/Panoply for mine and so they handled all of the hosting/editing/production/ad sales)Preparing content strategy: When I joined Duolingo, the first thing I did was look at the data for how content was performing. Once I had the patterns for what worked well, I could identify easy wins that would boost our overall performance (then measured in pageviews) and build on that. I usually manage content strategy by looking at the channels we think our content can perform well on, identifying the audiences for those channels, and ensuring we have content that will meet those audience needs. For us, it’s the in-app newsfeed on Duolingo (audience: avid learners) and search (audience: learners who aren’t necessarily on Duolingo). So we built a strategy off of those learner personae and making sure we had the right content to serve them.Leveraging AI: We haven’t done a lot of this yet, but I’m not too scared of AI as a tool in content strategy. I think there’s value in using AI to help draft an outline, generate some initial research (but you have to fact check it), or help you work through a sticky subject. Sometimes, when I’m editing an engineering case study, I’ll ask Chat GPT to help me understand particularly technical topics :’)Day-to-day workflow: Depends on the day. I have another team member whose expertise/skills are in language and teaching, so she manages a lot of our learner content. She’ll spend time editing freelancer drafts, prepping/building posts, doing SEO research, working with localization teams, and doing some writing herself.I have shifted to work more on our “company” posts–product launches, employer brand content, etc. So I might meet with senior leadership to draft some thought leadership content for LinkedIn, interview a PM about a product release, or edit case study posts to make sure they’re broadly accessible and not too technical.
carissavicencio'scarissavicencio·Jun 26
Hey @samanthazabell! Have you had experience in balancing existing and new content through a brand redesign? I’d love to know your advice/best practices in navigating brand projects like those alongside multiple teams.
jenmk'sjenmk·Jun 26
Hi Samantha,Thanks for participating in this AMA! How do you come up with ideas for new content? Do you host ideation sessions? What do those look like? Do you have brands whose content you admire?
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Hi @jenmk! I’m really lucky to work with another member of our team who is a wealth of knowledge—she has experience in teaching, a degree in linguistics, and she has so much empathy for our learner audience. So she has a lot of ideas just from her years of teaching and her enthusiasm for language. We started a column called “Dear Duolingo” about 2 years ago as a way to connect more directly with our learners and source ideas from them—it’s been amazing. We get hundreds of emails per week, and they’re so genuine and nerdy and I love them! If we hear a lot of learners asking questions in a similar vein, we’ll go with that.Other ideas come from brainstorms, SEO research, talking to our country marketing managers to see what’s happening in their markets, etc. We look at a lot of different brands for content inspiration, I like Spotify’s “For the Record”, I like Figma’s blog (which is very B2B, but good), and keep in mind these are the brands I like from an organic/longer-form content perspective. Our social team has very different inspiration sources!
pamela'spamela·Jun 26
Do you think about engineering word-of-mouth in content since its inception?
nicoleemery'snicoleemery·Jun 24
Hi @samanthazabell! I'm a creative/marketing producer with 10+ years experience (both in-house and agency). I'm considering a career pivot into content marketing/strategy, and would love your input on what the key skills (hard and soft) are that you look for in a content marketer?
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Good q! I think a basic understanding of SEO and content metrics (how you would measure success, whether it’s pageviews, or lead generation, etc) are good to have. Those feel “harder”. But I think some of the most valuable skills I bring to my team are my editing skills and interviewing skills—one of the ways I work with other teams is talking to engineers or product managers about a topic, new feature, case study and translating that into an engaging blog post for a wider audience. It involves a lot of listening and empathy (with both the storyteller and the perceived audience) and then simplifying things into their most essential parts. I think a good editor is sometimes better than a good writer (but I love good writers!)
nicoleemery'snicoleemery·Jun 28
Thank you so much for the great information, @samanthazabell!
noushink'snoushink·Jun 24
Hi @samanthazabell, I'm curious about how DuoLingo and your content strategy is responding to the rise of people using Gemini & ChatGPT to translate conversations in real-time while they travel. Is this something you think may impact your user base and growth?
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
It’s a great question @noushink! One of the most interesting things I’ve learned since joining Duolingo is the *why* behind people studying languages. Though travel is a great motivation, it’s kind of fleeting—you use it for your trip, and then you return home. We see a lot of learners who are studying for something deeper, like connecting with family heritage, or connecting with culture they enjoy like K-pop music or anime, and that isn’t a need that’s served by a translation service. We've also seen Google Translate continue to perfect its services, and yet demand for Duolingo has continued to grow every year. I think people who are learning on Duolingo want something very different than in-the-moment translations. Also, from a user growth perspective, Duolingo has started expanding into more subjects, like math and music. This will ensure we’re never fully tied to one subject and can reach other people who are these "lifelong learners", which is the audience we love to cultivate!
amycross'samycross·Jun 24
My company Gender Fair just rated Duolingo for the first time--it ranked in the top 17% of companies that make the Gender Fair standard such as P&G, Logitech Salesforce etc because of good policies and leadership and reporting etc. . (We produce ratings of consumer brands). As a content pro, do you think that is messaging that you users would care about.
Anisha149·Jun 24
Are you responsible for the humorous replies the Duolingo profile gives to various Duolingo-related posts on LinkedIn? If so, good job. They crack me (and others) up all the time.
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
LOL yes those are usually me! We also have a talent brand team that has been working on the LinkedIn presence so if you see the page posts, that's them! But I do have a lot of fun in the replies--I think because I'm a millennial LinkedIn is the only platform whose humor I understand anymore 😂
Oyinatinuke0405'sOyinatinuke0405·Jun 24
Thank you for sharing your journey with us @samanthazabell
DrKingaMnich'sDrKingaMnich·Jun 24
Nice to meet with you, Samantha. I am a social-psychologist and run my own consultancy and coaching company. I also run a non-profit organization called https://zivavoices.com/ We are amplifying women's voices through storytelling. Perhaps we can get you to write for us an article in the near future.
somyN'ssomyN·Jun 24
Hi Samantha!
brookevlasich'sbrookevlasich·Jun 25
Hi Samantha! I’m a Content Producer and have worked in nonprofits for my whole career (about 20 years). A couple of recruiters in the tech and gaming industry have reached out to me asking me to apply for roles at their companies. Although I’m flattered, I was wondering how I can make my nonprofit experience relevant to other industries? How can I stand out among many other applicants who already have previous work with tech and gaming companies?
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
If they're reaching out to you, it sounds like your experience is relevant! If I had to guess, you're working with very little budget and creating a lot of impact. That's huge—and really attractive to any company. It means that you know how to prioritize the most valuable work and that no resource is wasted. Otherwise, just focus on any campaigns/content you created for a specific audience and how you developed that: what was the insight you acted on? How did you develop the content? What was the result, and regardless of success, what did you learn?
brookevlasich'sbrookevlasich·Jul 02
Thank you, Samantha! Appreciate your take on this. It’s helping me see the value I can bring to a for-profit company. I’m thinking through some of the questions you’ve posed and it’s shown me how much I’ve done. Can’t wait to share about it in interviews!
bekahhugs'sbekahhugs·Jun 26
Hi Samantha!Thank you so much for offering to share your insights with us! Excited to have you here! As a product manager with a passion for creating impactful user experiences, I’m particularly interested in the intersection of content strategy and product development. Duolingo is a dream product for me because of its innovative approach to making language learning fun and accessible. As someone with ADHD, I find it hard to stick with apps, but Duolingo is one of the few that I’ve been able to use consistently and love (been learning German for almost 2 years now). At Duolingo, how do you ensure that your content marketing strategies not only align with the brand’s unique voice but also enhance user engagement and experience within the app? I'd love to hear any specific examples or strategies you’ve found effective.Additionally, I’m always looking for ways to foster better collaboration between marketing and product teams. Any tips or best practices you could share would be immensely valuable.Thank you again for your time!
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Thanks for the question, @bekahhugs! We use metrics. One of our most valuable metrics is “time spent on page”—I care about that more than pageviews. If we see someone spending more than a minute or two on a post, we take that as a positive signal that we’re driving value, and we try to replicate that as best we can. I think part of this question is also asking about our social voice which can feel very different from what we use in the app—but we’ve seen that these two voices are actually very complementary to each other. We’ve conducted user research and our learners have really understood Duo’s two sides (like how you behave differently at work than you do on the weekend!) and so we haven’t needed to worry too much about whether it will enhance app engagement. If TikTok Duo can get people to open up the app, he’s done his job, and he doesn’t have to act quite so desperate and crazy once they’re in their lessons! For collaboration between marketing and product, we’re always looking for strategies, too! What’s worked for us on our content side is keeping an eye on the product features and proactively reaching out to teams about how we can spotlight those launches. I try to take a lot of the work off of the product teams when it comes to creating content about their features—and I think that’s been really helpful in getting them involved. They’ve already done the hard work—launching the thing!—and so I never approach them and say “Would you write a post about this?” but rather “I’ve drafted a post based on the specs/docs I’ve reviewed, would love your thoughts!” and then I make sure to follow up once it’s live with any relevant metrics/feedback from learners.
bekahhugs'sbekahhugs·Jul 03
I appreciate your response! This has really helped me gain some long overdue perspective that I've been missing.
MBKateri'sMBKateri·Jun 28
Hi Samantha,I transitioned out of teaching and have a little experience in digital marketing. I love connecting dots and uncovering patterns which I know makes me a great fit for brand and content strategy. How do I best show my skills without a portfolio of work, especially since I lost my most recent job due to budget cuts?Thank you!
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your job, @MBKateri 💜 and I empathize with how difficult it is to move to a new industry and show your work.There's not a one-size-fits all answer here, because a) finding a job today is just really hard and we should acknowledge that and b) it depends on how you want to approach it. But here are some ideas...1. Freelance work is always a great way to gain experience and bolster your resume. Maybe there are places looking for freelance content writers where you could get some clips doing writing, editing, production? (We source a lot of freelancers from a site called "Upwork")2. You might try finding some free online certifications that you can do to bolster your resume and demonstrate that you're eager to learn/curious/down to try new things. Before getting the gig at Duolingo, I did a few different certifications via Google Analytics, HubSpot. I'm not saying these certifications leveled up my skills like crazy, but they gave me something to talk about in interviews and helped me understand the "language" of the industry I was trying to break into.3. It seems like you're in the right place for this... networking can be exhausting but helpful. I imagine Elpha has lots of forums for you to connect with others who might be able to lend advice, review your resume, make a referral. Never be afraid to ask someone for a connection. The worst they say is "no, and here's why..." and it's better than not knowing at all!
carrieluk'scarrieluk·Jun 25
Hi @samanthazabell great to meet you and thank you for your time!A friend and I had plans to start a podcast of our own as a space for us to share our challenges and what we learn. What advice would you have for anyone wanting to start a podcast?
marianalimon'smarianalimon·Jun 25
Hi, Samantha! Your job is super inspiring. I'm also a journalist and was wondering if you could provide any tips on how to make a strong job application and what positions are a good fit in tech for profiles like mine. Thanks!
samanthazabell'ssamanthazabell·Jun 28
Hi @marianalimon! My advice is to always connect your work with impact—what's been the reach of your stories, how many are you writing per month, etc. It's also good to show how you learn and act on insights—writing a story based on a trending news topic or increased search traffic is a very transferrable skill for all marketers, who build campaigns and content on audience insights!
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