Marketing · Digital · Social Media
Tips for making your social content more accessible
Did you know that 1 in 7 people have some form of disability? Not every disability is visible, and they can vary hugely in severity. It’s your duty when creating content to make sure that your social media presence is accessible to all, it’s not just good business, it’s morally important to make life easier for those who have to struggle more. Here are our tips on how you can make your content more accessible for all:
Use simpler language.
Short, clear sentences are a godsend for readers with learning disabilities. Making sure that you keep your social posts to the point will be appreciated by all, after all with so much content to digest these days it’s very easy for your message to be lost and for readers to give up reading. Using short sentences makes digesting content easier for people with learning disabilities and is actually easier for everyone. Thomas Jefferson famously said, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” We’re sure he’d have loved Tweeting as much as we do!
Capitalise your hashtags.
Have you heard of camel case? This is the practice of writing phrases with no intervening spaces but with each word capitalised instead. Think iPhone instead of iphone, FedEx instead of Fedex or eBay instead of ebay. Capitalising your hashtags doesn’t affect how search engines and social media platforms process them, and it makes them easier to read and avoids potentially embarrassing confusion. You don’t want to go creating another penisland.com accidentally!
Colours and Contrast.
You want your graphics to be easy on the eye. Try and create high contrast with your text; use black on white instead of white on grey, for example. Avoid garish colours or unpleasant combinations that can be very hard for those with colour blindness or image sensitivity to view.
Alt-text is your friend.
Alt-text is the text that appears when you hover your mouse over an image on a website. You should be adding this to any image you upload to the internet. Not only does the description you give each image help the visually impaired, but it also helps to boost your SEO. Keep the tag short and sweet but descriptive.
Subtitles aren’t just for foreign films.
Adding subtitles to the videos you upload makes it easier for those who are hard of hearing to enjoy your videos. However, we think everyone appreciates having the option for them, especially when watching videos in public. Plus transcripts can help to improve your SEO, so it’s a win-win.
Written by the team at www.airsocial.co.uk
Article courtesy of Air Social
Original article
