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About Tani Berlo
Tani Berlo is a business consultant and a mum of a five-year-old and a three-year-old. She is from the Australian Gold Coast and shares that she is Maori on her dad’s side.
She began creating history content as a passion project. It quickly became a hit with young audiences fascinated by ancient times, historical figures, archeological news, and much more.
Tani also integrates her love of fashion and beauty into her content, capturing the interest of her audience and inspiring them with both educational and lifestyle content.
Tani shares, “As long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in history. It’s always been a passion of mine ever since I was a little girl. I started my undergraduate degree in history (but ended up changing to business and getting my master’s degree in business). When I was really anxious, I would always love to come home to a history documentary or book. It helped me relax.”
Tani has been creating history videos for nearly a year. Before this, she was sharing content about working in the corporate world. However, she focused on history and lifestyle content after having a viral history video.
Tani notes, “I had a video go viral about the ‘worst year to be alive,’ which I said was 536 – which was a terrible year of global famine and sickness. From that video, I realized that so many people liked history, and I could share all this knowledge with a community of people.”
Since starting her content creation journey on TikTok, Tani has expanded into creating content on YouTube, Patreon, Instagram, Discord, and more.
Tani’s Content Process & Goals
Tani’s inspiration for content comes from the figures she speaks about, such as Cleopatra and Alexander the Great.
“As cliche as it sounds, I actually am really inspired by figures from history. It gives me perspective and makes me more grateful for the comforts of our modern life.”
When she first started creating content, she didn’t have any specific goals for her account because she didn’t anticipate many people having an interest in history. However, since her TikTok took off, she shares that one of her biggest goals is growing her Patreon, the History Club.
A post shared by Tani Berlo (@taniberlo)
Her strategy for growth is focusing on making content about historical events that many of us didn’t learn about in school. She shares that she focused on creating engaging content that interested her, and the followers soon came.
“My creative process is more of a study process. I have a running list of requests people make for particular historical videos. I also do archaeological news videos, so I am subscribed to a bunch of different literary journals to update me on new finds. I also like to keep up with trending movements online and add historical context to those trends.”
Challenges on TikTok
Every creator has their challenges. However, Tani shares that most of her challenges are external and related to the platform or brand collaborations rather than her own creative process.
“The content side of things hasn’t been much of a challenge. I think the hardest part about being a TikToker is being a little ‘too early to market,’ so a lot of brands don’t really know what to do with TikTok yet, so it’s harder to make an income from content creation on TikTok at the moment. I’m sure brands will catch up.”
Another challenge is not knowing what TikTok content will take off.
Tani explains that 99.9% of the time, the videos that go viral are the ones you don’t think will take off. For example, her most viewed video featured a sarcophagus found under the tombs underneath North Dame. This viral video was a complete surprise to Tani.
Tani’s Target Audience
Tani’s audience is primarily Americans. However, she has followers from all over the world.
“I have a really supportive following which is really awesome as I know some people don’t get that experience online.”
Most of her followers are female and tend to have a huge interest in history, science, and education. Some of the most common questions Tani is asked on social media are about her favorite period in history and about the makeup, clothes, and beauty products she uses.
A way that Tani connects with her audience and fuses together fashion, beauty, and history content seamlessly is through live streams.
“I do live videos every week where I get ready for the day. It’s also just naturally become a part of my content. I have a particular style that my audience likes, and I don’t overtly advertise my clothes or beauty products, but my audience always asks.”
Brand Collaborations
Tani shares that working with brands can be really exhausting. As a result, she has stopped seeking out brands to work with and instead lets brands come to her, which she shares has been the best choice for her.
She is most proud of her campaign with SAGE-SR, a mental health self-report that checks for the 24 most common mental health disorders. The report is entirely anonymous and scientifically validated.
“I have just worked with a mental health brand called SAGE-SR. I think the science behind their online platform is amazing and will really help a lot of people, and I’m proud of the partnership and content I have created for them.”
For the campaign, Tani created several TikToks featuring the science behind the mental health tool and the company’s history and development.
The Future
When asked what she would like to see in the future within the creator marketplace, she explains, “I think brands need to realize how powerful TikTok is, but that it is powerful when you allow the creator to be creative. Brands can’t advertise like they used to and expect the same results they used to get. I would also say to any creator, don’t work for free. It is not worth your time or energy to support brands that won’t support you back!”
Tani shares, “I have some really exciting podcast interviews coming up and also (fingers crossed) some announcements about a new line of history-inspired products that I’m really excited about.”
Amy DeYoung is a freelance blog post writer covering influencer marketing and business topics. As the daughter of two business owners, she’s been fascinated by all things business from a young age, which led her to graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree in business. When she’s not typing away, she spends her time reading nonfiction books and mystery novels, baking scrumptious desserts, and playing with her dog.
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