How a Queensland camel dairy farmer has mustered a 568,000 TikTok following

From videos of feeding time to trips to the vet and baby camels, Queensland camel farmer Yasmin Brisbane has revealed the role TikTok plays as an important marketing platform for her business. Here’s why she is bringing her 568,000 TikTok followers along for the ride by posting fun, day-in-the-life style stories.

Founded and run by the Brisbane family, Queensland Camel Company Pty Ltd (QCamel) is the producer of the world’s first and currently only certified organic pasteurised camel milk.

After being accredited as a producer in 2014 following an eight-year journey to establish the QCamel Dairy, its range has grown throughout the years from milk to yoghurt smoothies, powders, bi-powders and cosmetics.

QCamel products are stocked in over 80 retailers throughout Australia, including Harris Farm Markets, IGA, and Flannerys.

As well as supplying premium camel milk products, the family-owned business also runs a tourism venture providing a farm gate experience and meet and greets with its ‘Camel Cuddles’ tours.

For Brisbane and her business, TikTok has become an important marketing platform. Since launching her account she’s seen an up to 30% increase in organic camel milk sales, a 50% increase in tourism, and QCamel’s skincare range is almost sold out.

As a result, she has also been able to set her sights on expanding her business on a global scale, with QCamel now raising funds through the crowdfunding platform Swarmer to support the strategic growth of the company and to achieve key activities planned for the next 24 months.

Engaging viewers on TikTok helped QCamel

Brisbane said she started her TikTok journey quite late.

“Quite a lot of people joined around 2020 during the pandemic. I started in January last year,” she said.

“I started for a bit of fun, just posting behind-the-scenes of what was going on, on the farm. I was hoping that it would maybe bring some business to the farm, I had no real intention of it. But it grew quite quickly.

“Camel milk actually tastes extremely similar to cow milk. It is in between skim milk and full cream milk. It’s a very light texture, but it’s a full cream flavour. 

Source: Hayley Elle Photography

“It’s slightly salty on its first sip and then on the second it just tastes like regular milk. However, it does come down to how you produce it as well.”

Brisbane, who is also a passionate advocate for camels in Australian agriculture, is one of the nominees for TikTok Business of the Year in the 2023 TikTok Awards along with Vincent Lim and Sarah Emilia, with the end-of-year awards event to be held on December 6 in Sydney.

She said it was important to educate people about camels in order to encourage customers to consume the products and be interested in the company.

“It has to be about educating people about camels because they were otherwise sort of thought about as a pest in this country and a big, dirty stinky animal that is otherwise destroying the environment, which is actually the complete opposite,” she said. 

“So I wanted to just educate people because that’s where things start and connect with people. 

“I think there’s a very big trend in the world now. People really want to connect with businesses and want to build trust with brands. 

“I’m having a bit of fun and I sprinkle brand awareness. But I’m not being overt about it, it just might be my logo on the shirt or it might just be mentioning it in the text on screen.”

Brisbane said to be successful on TikTok, businesses need to connect with their audience and allow them to immerse themselves in the content.

“Above all, you need to really, really be yourself and put a face to the business and connect with your audience,” she said. 

Voting for TikTok Business of the Year is open until December 1 through the TikTok Awards hub in-app. The social media app is also running a competition for fans hoping to attend the Awards, with entries open until November 27.