Accessibility, Social Media

How can I make my social media more accessible?

Making your social media accessible helps you reach more people and shows you care about inclusivity.
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How can I make my social media more accessible?

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When you are marketing your business, a common goal is to reach a broad audience without any unintentional exclusion. It’s important then, to make your social media accessible so you can reach as many people as possible In the context of social media, accessibility means adapting your digital content—be it text, images, videos, or other media—to remove barriers that might prevent people from fully interacting with it. By making content accessible, you can not only increase their reach and engagement but also put inclusivity and social responsibility into practice.

Here are some of our top tips!

Create Dyslexia-Friendly Content

Utilise sans-serif fonts such as Arial or Open Sans, which are easier to read for many people with dyslexia. Maintain a font size of 12-14 points, and use bold for emphasis rather than italics or underlining.

Clear Headings

For readable layouts, use clear headings, ample white space, and avoid justified text. Ensure hyperlinks are easily distinguishable from regular text.

Simple Text

Use an active voice and simple, clear language. Avoid jargon, abbreviations without explanations, and complex sentence structures.

Use Alt Text

Alt text is a short description of an image used to describe what the image contains. It’s useful for lots of reasons, but on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, it can help make your content more accessible to those with screen readers. Keep the text short and descriptive, like a tweet. Be specific and omit information that isn’t relevant to the content.

eg. “Plate of battered fish and chips, a popular British dish, with a pint of beer on the side”

Further reading on Alt Text: https://business.scope.org.uk/article/how-to-write-better-alt-text-descriptions-for-accessibility?

A mobile phone displaying instructions on how to add Alt text to instrgam posts.

Caption Videos

Not only do captions make your videos accessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing, but the majority of videos on social media are now watched with the sound off- it is just good practice to caption.

Avoid Overusing Emojis

Screen readers read out each emoji, which can be overwhelming and obscure the actual message. Of course that doesn’t mean stop using them. Just maybe limit the amount.

CamelCase Hashtags

Use CamelCase for your hashtags (e.g., #AccessibleMarketingGuide) to make hashtags easier for screen readers to read.

Making your social media accessible helps you reach more people and shows you care about inclusivity. This not only boosts engagement but also meets ethical standards, making your brand more appealing to everyone.

If you want to learn more about making the web accessible and explore valuable resources and guidelines, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a great place to start. Visit the WAI website here. Thanks for reading. Make sure to subscribe to get news and insights on all things digital marketing straight to your inbox. 

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