Image Content Team
Isla McKenzie
Trends & Viral Content Writer · Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Spots the picture trends that are about to take off on social media and gets a well-made gallery live while people are still searching for them.
Part of the Image Content team, led by Vanya Rose
About Isla
Isla works on the fastest-moving part of image content: the trends. A new profile picture style can go from one creator’s post to millions of searches in a fortnight, and the site with the best gallery in that window is usually the one that keeps the traffic afterwards.
She started out managing social accounts for a student magazine, where she learned to tell a passing joke from a trend with staying power. That instinct now decides which ideas the team picks up quickly and which it lets pass.
Three years in, she watches what is rising, writes trend galleries quickly without cutting corners, and flags the ones worth refreshing later.
What she works on
- Trending and viral PFP galleries
- Social trend monitoring
- Fast-turnaround gallery copy
- Funny and meme-style picture sets
- Deciding what to refresh or retire
Background
How she got here
Education
Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media and Communications.
Early work
Social media for a student magazine, then trend round-ups for an online youth culture site.
Into image content
Viral and trend-led picture galleries, where timing decides most of the result.
Now
Trend and viral content for client sites at Infinity Linkers, within the Image Content team.
Her team
Image Content team
Isla reports to Vanya Rose, Head of Image Content. She passes trend ideas to Chloe Bennett and Aiko Tanaka when they fit an aesthetic or character set better than a quick viral gallery.
Approach
Fast, but never thin
Being early matters on a trend, but a rushed gallery with ten pictures and no explanation rarely holds its place. Isla aims to be early and complete at the same time, which mostly means preparing the groundwork before a trend peaks rather than writing faster after it does.
Away from work she hikes Arthur’s Seat in every kind of Scottish weather and runs a small, very opinionated film club with friends.