How Microsoft Windows Reached 1 Million TikTok Followers

Like many brands on TikTok, Microsoft Windows was seeking attention, but from the one person who wouldn't listen. The object of Window's affection was TikTok comedian Emily Zugay, known for making fun of brand logos and offering her own goofy redesigns. After Windows commented relentlessly on her videos, the creator finally gave the Windows’ four-paned blue window-shaped logo the Zugay treatment, replacing the blue squares with a photo of her face. Microsoft, in turn, put Zugay’s version of its logo on one of its stores in New York and—of course—made a TikTok about it. To this day, Zugay remains the only account that Windows follows. https://www.tiktok.com/@windows/video/7030876299455499526?_r=1&_t=8VKLc9FAnet&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7030876299455499526 The Zugay stunt, which is the most-watched video on the Windows account—one of several Microsoft brand accounts on TikTok—is emblematic of the brand’s strategy on the buzziest social platform: instead of telling consumers how to perceive it, Windows leans on how people already see the brand, making silly puns with the company’s name and leaning into nostalgia for old Windows products. “On our Windows channel, 70% of our engagement comes from reactive and trend pieces,” said Biz Hennigan, senior vice president, client lead at Superdigital, the agency that works with Microsoft on the Windows TikTok account. “We spend less time curating the perfect calendar and [instead] have people that are a part of the platform inform what we do next for our brand.” The strategy has helped Windows achieve a relative rarity for brands: a legitimately popular TikTok account. Windows surpassed 1 million TikTok followers on August 1, less than a year after starting the account. Its videos have received 11.2 million total likes, with some achieving more than 10 million views. This isn't bad for a platform where viewers tend to be allergic to traditional advertising. “A lot of branded TikToks seem like they’re on the platform to be on the platform," said Nora Birch, creative strategist at creative agency Carson & Doyle, noting Microsoft Windows is successful partly because its videos feel like creator content. “You don’t mind that content flooding your screen.” The Brands Finding Success Promoting Their Boring, Unsexy Products on TikTok Community driven The birth of the account coincided with the launch of the company's newest operating system Windows 11, but the purpose of the account was never necessarily to encourage any sort of behavior or purchase. “[The Windows account] is not about demand gen or performance marketing,” said Kelley Myers, director of consumer social for Windows, Surface and Microsoft 365 at Microsoft. “It’s that brand space driving that brand love.” Having the space not to market directly give Super Digital, Microsoft and the creators it works with the freedom to come up with some zany ideas. In a TikTok that received 4.7 million views, the brand enlists members of freelance marketplace Fiverr to make a Windows commercial about windows, aka the glass panes that connect the inside to the outside world, rather than the brand. https://www.tiktok.com/@windows/video/7112545398190853422?_r=1&_t=8VKLU5B5ppS&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7112545398190853422 “The brand that is a little bit more unique and a little more offbeat .. feels more like a human persona," Birch said. An emphasis on nostalgia Another pillar of Windows' strategy is leaning into customer nostalgia for older Windows features, like Microsoft Paint and especially the well-known startup sound of the early noughties operating system Windows XP, (when many TikTok viewers were first using Windows computers). Myers noted many features of the Windows brand, such as its logo or the well-known rolling hills screen saver that was the default for many years, have inspired legions of fan art in the form of t-shirts, rugs and even stained-glass windows. “We’re just tapping into the cultural moments already happening in the world,” she noted. In one TikTok that garnered over 10 million views, Windows combined its penchant for social listening with nostalgia. The video is a riff on the trend of an interviewer asking random people walking on the street what they’re listening to in their headphones. In this case, the passerby is blasting the iconic Windows XP sound on repeat. https://www.tiktok.com/@windows/video/7075448138219343150?_r=1&_t=8VKLZQpwEN0&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7075448138219343150 But nostalgia can be a double-edged sword—making a brand seem past its prime—and is no substitute for brand identity, Birch said. “When you think about nostalgia, it’s that affectionate sentimentality,” said Myers, adding that the key is to lean into emotion. “It’s the goodness that you remember, not the mothballs.” To Succeed on TikTok, Brands Must Become Publishers

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How Microsoft Windows Reached 1 Million TikTok Followers in Nine Months

The brand leans on tech nostalgia and fan-led content

Catherine Perloff

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Catherine Perloff