5 Tips to Make Your Social Media Content More Accessible & Inclusive

Jan 31, 2025
January 31, 2025
Rachel Drever

1 in 6 people live with a disability. Thatโ€™s approximately 1.3 BILLION people worldwide! ๐ŸŒ

โ€

Making your content accessible & inclusive shouldnโ€™t be an afterthought. It should be in the pipeline before you even begin creating your content. If your content isnโ€™t accessible & inclusive, youโ€™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? ๐Ÿšชโœจ

โ€

So, how do I make my social media content more accessible & inclusive?

โ€โ€

These are our top 5 tips to make your social media content more accessible, which anyone can implement straight away ๐Ÿ’ช

โ€

Tip 1: Write Effective Alt Text for Accessible Content ๐Ÿ“ฑ

โ€

Screen readers use Alt Text to describe images, GIFs & other media out loud to people with visual & cognitive disabilities. Alt Text is important as itโ€™s the bridge of context between your content & your community ๐ŸŽจ

โ€

โœ… Paint a story: What emotions & reactions does the image spark for you?ย 

โœ… Be descriptive: Is it a photo, illustration, screenshot or GIF? Include people, objects, colours, text, & important visual elements.

โœ… Keep it relevant: Focus on what descriptions add value & remove the fluff!

โ€

โŒ Donโ€™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.

โŒ Donโ€™t make assumptions: Only describe whatโ€™s in the image/GIF, as making assumptions about whatโ€™s happening can be confusing & remove context.

โ€

๐Ÿ’ก Pro Tip: Imagine youโ€™re explaining the image to a friend over the phone. Keep it conversational but detailed ๐Ÿ™Œ

โ€

Image showing three screenshots from X. The first screenshot is a post from BLEED Esports with the copy "click here if you're having a bad day" with an image. The image shows black text sitting to the right of the image on a white background that reads, "click here". Four black dashes & a mathematical less-than sign create an arrow pointing down to the bottom left-hand corner. BLEED Esports Alt Text reads, "Buy the BLEED Bundle".  The second screenshot is of Disobey's quote-repost of BLEED's post, with the caption that reads "ALT text is an ACCESSIBILITY feature, NOT a sales tool. We fixed it for you" with the same image attached.  The third panel is a screenshot of Disobey's alt text which reads, Black text sits to the right of the image on a white background that reads, "click here". Four black dashes & a mathematical less-than sign create an arrow pointing down to the bottom left-hand corner."

โ€

Tip 2: You Can Boost Video Engagement By Adding Easy-to-Read Closed Captions to Videos ๐Ÿ“บ

โ€

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!! ๐Ÿ˜ฑ

โ€

โœ… Add clear captions to videos: The majority of video editing programs have tools to add captions & your own branded flair easily ๐Ÿ’…

โœ… Ensure the platformโ€™s UI doesnโ€™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.

โ€

โŒ Donโ€™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!

โ€

Closed captions help the hard-of-hearing community, people in noisy spaces, non-native speakers & even multitaskers (yeah, we see you ๐Ÿ˜‰). Check out our TikTok to see how we make closed captions on-brand & full of life ๐Ÿ‘‡

โ€

Image showing three screenshots from TikTok. Each screenshot shows gameplay from the game CUFFBUST, with the first image showing two police officers running towards the player with captions reading "This is the most", the second screenshot shows a purple alien in a prisoner's stripy jumpsuit running towards the police with captions reading "chaotic multiplayer", & the third image shows the player whacking a police officer on the floor with a spoon with captions reading "game of all time!".

โ€

Tip 3: Improve Readability with High-Contrast Colours When Creating Social Media Content ๐ŸŽจ

โ€

Aesthetic & branded guidelines are important, but so is readability. Your amazing graphics wonโ€™t have much of an impact if people canโ€™t read it ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

โ€

โœ… 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 weโ€™re talking ๐Ÿ˜

โ€

๐Ÿ’กPro Tip: Use a Colour Contrast Checker to determine whether your chosen aesthetic passes the accessibility test.

โ€

Screenshot from colourcontrast.cc. It features a green background with black text & accents. From the top, the page title reads, โ€œColour contrast checkerโ€. Underneath is a capital & lowercase A side by side in a box, with the number โ€œ9.43โ€ to the right. This is the contrast score, where the higher the number the better the contrast. To the right are four tests, from left to right: AA Large, AAA Large, AA Normal & AAA Normal. Each test has a white box with โ€œPassโ€ & a tick above them. Below is the RGB colours of the green background, #a0b900, & the black text, #000000.

โ€

Tip 4: Capitalise Words in Hashtags for Accessibility #๏ธโƒฃ

โ€

๐Ÿง  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 ๐Ÿ‘€

โ€

โœ… 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 ๐Ÿ’ฌ

โ€

Screenshot of a tweet from 2012, from the account Susan Boyle HQ. The tweet reads, "Susan will be answering your questions at her exclusive album listening party on Saturday. Send in your questions #susanalbumparty Susan HQ".

โ€

Tip 5: Create Inclusive Social Media Content by Considering Diverse Audiences Beyond Your Own Lived Experiences ๐Ÿค

โ€

No matter how targeted your audience & community is, theyโ€™re an incredibly diverse bunch with different experiences. Content that feels โ€œnormalโ€ 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 ๐Ÿ‘Š

โ€

โœ… Read accessibility guidelines & facts

โœ… Use inclusive language

โœ… Keep researching & implementing

โ€

GIF of a young boy smiling & nodding at a computer screen. He turns to the camera & gives a thumbs up.

โ€

TLDR ๐Ÿง 

โ€

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 ๐Ÿ‘

โ€

๐ŸŒต Use Alt Text for images & GIFs to help screenreaders

๐ŸŒต Use easy-to-read closed captions

๐ŸŒต Use colour contrast tools to check if your colours stand out enough

๐ŸŒต Capitalise the first letter in each hashtag

๐ŸŒต Think beyond your own lived experiences

โ€

So, what did you think of our top 5 digital accessibility tips to make your social media content more inclusive? Remember that this list isnโ€™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 ๐Ÿ˜

Disobey is a games marketing agency specialising in game launches, social media strategy & influencer campaigns within the gaming industry! We pride ourselves on our personal approach & good connections within the gaming influencer world. We love to help indies with community growth, game launches & understand how to strategise on a budget.