In this fast-evolving digital world, afterthoughts are usually made toward accessibility. But making your social media platforms accessible is not just a legal or ethical responsibility-it’s an opportunity to connect with a wider audience and show your brand’s commitment to inclusivity.
Social media is one of the most powerful current tools, reaching millions of people all over the world; if your content is inaccessible to all, you might cut out a big number of followers. Not only will accessible social media help you keep yourself compliant with regulations, but it also allows people with disabilities to enjoy your posts just like others.
How do you, as a content creator or social media manager, make access easier? Look to this step-by-step guide for making your social media platforms more inclusive.
Why Accessibility Matters for Social Media
First, let’s take a moment to understand why accessibility on social media matters before going into how.
Excluding a huge group of potential followers, customers, or supporters due to one’s subconscious decision, with more than 1 billion people with different kinds of disabilities in the world for whom social media is one of the most important connections to the world. Good news about accessibility: it isn’t just about keeping yourself out of trouble; it is all about being considerate of and respect toward your end users.
With increased accessibility in the content on social media, you ultimately are going to improve experiences for all users. All the way from text descriptions for images, accessibility can also make your videos understandable by all and creates more interesting, inclusive content for your target audience. Examples include:
1. Alt text for Images/ Graphics
One of the easiest ways to make social media content more accessible is adding alt text to images. Alt text describes what’s in an image in words that screen readers read aloud to visually impaired users.
Best Practices
Describe concisely: instead of “a tree,” for example, try “A tall oak in a green field under blue sky.”
Avoid wordy phrases “image of” or “photo of while writing alt; that is in fact, implied.
Come up with all the key information visually image conveys in a way that without actually looking people with impairments wouldn’t lose crucial information:.
Adding alt text will let the screen readers describe the image to the users and help all understand the context of the post. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter support alt text, so make sure to fill out that field when uploading images.
2. Use Descriptive Video Captions and Subtitles
Videos represent the most interactive way of information transmission, but for those who have damaged or impaired hearing, they are far from engaging. Closed captioning or subtitles around your videos allow for the content of videos to be consumable by users of any hearing ability.
Best Practices
Accurate captioning goes a long way.
Make your captions readable: text that is large enough to be seen, in contrasting colors, and well-timed for readability.
You can create captions yourself, but many social media platforms-including Facebook and YouTube-offer some auto-captioning capabilities, which can be a great jumping-off point.
This is very important because, along with the captioning of your videos, you provide access to content for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Moreover, many more will be able to consume your content in places where there is noise or silence. You know, like in a coffee shop.
3. High Color Contrast and Readability
The designer should keep in mind that the text, in social media messages based on text, should be readable for all, whether a person is blind or color-blind. For accessibility purposes, there should be high contrast between your text and its background.
Best Practices
Use dark text on light backgrounds or vice versa, like black text on a white background.
Also, avoid colors that cannot be easily distinguished from one another, such as light green on yellow or red on green. The font style chosen should be readable, like sans-serif fonts, which seem to be easier to read on a computer screen. The text size shall not be so small that it cannot be read without zooming. By paying attention to these cares of color contrast and readability of text, your contents will be accessible to visually disabled users or people who have difficulties in reading.
4. Provide Clear Links and Calls to Action
Links and/or calls to action that a person is supposed to click on when using social media should be unmistakable both for sighted viewers and when read by screen readers using assistive technology for people who might be relying on them for navigation.
Best Practices
Use clear, descriptive language in labeling links or calls to action. That may mean replacing “Learn more about our services” or “Sign up for our newsletter” where the text had simply said “Click here.”
Also avoid the use of text links disguised as images unless those images are properly described with alt text.
Ensure buttons and links can be easily tapped on mobile devices by ensuring they are large enough.
Clear and descriptive links and calls-to-action mean all users can easily navigate your social media pages and take action.
5. Avoid Overloading with Visual Information
While nice and all, overabundance of the former or busy visuals overwhelm people with cognitive impairments. For accessibility, content should be simple regarding structure and consumption.
Best Practices
Your design should be clean and uncluttered; the layers should be clear as to what the visual hierarchy is.
Avoid the use of jargons and complicated words for simple posts. Use headers, bullets, or graphic elements to break up large blocks of text into smaller, easily consumable pieces.
This makes your social media content less intimidating to anyone who wants to understand and engage in it, including people with cognitive impairments.
6. Hashtag Strategically
Hashtags may be a means to blow up your own content, or they can just be an access tool. Use camel case-capitalize the first letter of each word-that is, instead of #socialmediabestpractices being #SocialMediaBestPractices. So that screen reader users can tell what the thing is, separated into words by the screen readers instead of all clumped.
7. Check for Accessibility
Finally, check your content for accessibility. You can hear what it will sound like to visually impaired users who use screen readers built into iOS and Android systems: VoiceOver and TalkBack. You will also be able to use web accessibility checkers, which run tests for contrast ratios, readability, and caption accuracy.
Conclusion
Accessibility does not need to be so complicated for social media, but yes, it needs to be one of those processes where the details and commitment to inclusion count. If you make sure you do all of the above, your content will then be accessible to all, and the chances of getting your message across to as many users as possible are bigger. Not compliance in nature, but access is community building wherein all have equal opportunities to access, connect with, engage in, and enjoy your content.