1 in 6 people live with a disability. That’s approximately 1.3 BILLION people worldwide! 🌍
Making your content accessible & inclusive shouldn’t be an afterthought. It should be in the pipeline before you even begin creating your content. If your content isn’t accessible & inclusive, you’re leaving a massive portion of your audience on the sidelines. Games are meant to be played by everyone & content is meant to be enjoyed by all, so why not open the doors even wider? 🚪✨
So, how do I make my social media content more accessible & inclusive?
These are our top 5 tips to make your social media content more accessible, which anyone can implement straight away 💪
Tip 1: Write Effective Alt Text for Accessible Content 📱
Screen readers use Alt Text to describe images, GIFs & other media out loud to people with visual & cognitive disabilities. Alt Text is important as it’s the bridge of context between your content & your community 🎨
✅ Paint a story: What emotions & reactions does the image spark for you?
✅ Be descriptive: Is it a photo, illustration, screenshot or GIF? Include people, objects, colours, text, & important visual elements.
✅ Keep it relevant: Focus on what descriptions add value & remove the fluff!
❌ Don’t use Alt Text as a meme or for sales pitches: Alt Text is there to explain the image, not for you to make jokes at the expense of accessibility.
❌ Don’t make assumptions: Only describe what’s in the image/GIF, as making assumptions about what’s happening can be confusing & remove context.
💡 Pro Tip: Imagine you’re explaining the image to a friend over the phone. Keep it conversational but detailed 🙌
Tip 2: You Can Boost Video Engagement By Adding Easy-to-Read Closed Captions to Videos 📺
Up to 92% of viewers watch videos with the sound OFF on mobiles, & 80% are more likely to finish a video with subtitles, according to a study by Verizon!! 😱
✅ Add clear captions to videos: The majority of video editing programs have tools to add captions & your own branded flair easily 💅
✅ Ensure the platform’s UI doesn’t hide captions: Every platform & aspect ratio is different, so as a general rule for short-form content, keep captions central & up high. For long-form content, captions are generally good at the central bottom of the video.
❌ Don’t rely on auto-generated captions: They can make mistakes & cause confusion if the wrong word is used, so double-check if you use auto-generated captions!
Closed captions help the hard-of-hearing community, people in noisy spaces, non-native speakers & even multitaskers (yeah, we see you 😉). Check out our TikTok to see how we make closed captions on-brand & full of life 👇
Tip 3: Improve Readability with High-Contrast Colours When Creating Social Media Content 🎨
Aesthetic & branded guidelines are important, but so is readability. Your amazing graphics won’t have much of an impact if people can’t read it 😬
✅ Use highly contrasted colours between text & background: This helps users with low vision or colour blindness engage with your content! Dark grey text on a black background? Nope. Bold white text on a navy background? Now we’re talking 😍
💡Pro Tip: Use a Colour Contrast Checker to determine whether your chosen aesthetic passes the accessibility test.
Tip 4: Capitalise Words in Hashtags for Accessibility #️⃣
🧠 Fun fact: Camel case is a writing style that capitalises the first character of each word where spaces & punctuation are unavailable, such as in programming or hashtags 👀
✅ Use capitals at the beginning of each word in a hashtag: Screen readers can struggle to read hashtags when everything is in lowercase, so when a hashtag is #LikeThis, it helps them differentiate & read out the words properly 💬
Tip 5: Create Inclusive Social Media Content by Considering Diverse Audiences Beyond Your Own Lived Experiences 🤝
No matter how targeted your audience & community is, they’re an incredibly diverse bunch with different experiences. Content that feels “normal” to you may be challenging for others, so create content with a large group of people in mind to make it as accessible & inclusive as possible 👊
✅ Read accessibility guidelines & facts
✅ Use inclusive language
✅ Keep researching & implementing
TLDR 🧠
Prioritising accessible content is an absolute game-changer, as it not only helps more people understand & enjoy your content, but it expands your audience, helps your content be more relatable & strengthens your reputation in advocating for accessibility & inclusiveness 👏
🌵 Use Alt Text for images & GIFs to help screenreaders
🌵 Use easy-to-read closed captions
🌵 Use colour contrast tools to check if your colours stand out enough
🌵 Capitalise the first letter in each hashtag
🌵 Think beyond your own lived experiences
So, what did you think of our top 5 digital accessibility tips to make your social media content more inclusive? Remember that this list isn’t exhaustive, & these are just a few of the MANY ways to level up your content! The more you learn, the more you can change & the more you can advocate for inclusive content 😍
