Making Social Media Accessible

A Support Cambridgeshire Guide, designed and delivered by Passion4Social CIC

Transcript

Quick Links

Slide 1: Introduction

Hi. Welcome to Making Social Media Accessible, a short guide designed for community groups who want to provide a smooth, engaging experience for their existing followers and reach the widest possible audience online.

This video is not designed to be an in-depth training course; however, it will challenge your team’s perspectives on accessible social media and give them practical tips and insights that can immediately be applied to make your social media communications more accessible.

Slide 2: What Is Accessibility?

Let’s begin with a quick definition.

Web accessibility refers to the design of websites, digital platforms, applications and tools that can be used by everyone, regardless of disability, health condition, or situational impairment.

Think about accessibility as showing everyone the same level of care and giving them equal opportunities, irrespective of ability or background.

You might think poor accessibility in digital spaces only affects a small number of people, but actually, over 35% of the population directly benefits from accessible communications. That includes people with hearing or visual impairments, cognitive or learning disabilities, older adults, or anyone affected by temporary or situational challenges such as trying to listen to a virtual conference on a noisy train.

Your social media pages are often a person’s first introduction to your organisation or brand. If your posts are not accessible, you could unintentionally exclude people from connecting with you and engaging with your services.

Slide 3: Accessible Content: quick wins

Despite the urban myths you might have heard; accessibility does not need to be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming.

With just a few tweaks to how you write your posts, share images, and create videos, you can ensure your key messages reach a wider audience. You will also be showing your organisation truly embraces inclusion.

Let’s begin by talking about the three golden rules you need to live by when creating written content for your social media posts: Keep them short, clear and simple.

Write in plain language: Avoid using jargon, acronyms, or technical terms unless you explain them.
Structure your posts clearly by:
Breaking long text into short paragraphs
Using bullet points
Sticking to one idea per paragraph.
Avoid using ALL CAPS for emphasis or stylisation: Screen readers can interpret this as shouting or spelling out each letter. Your message may even be entirely lost on some people.
Limit emojis and emoticons, especially in the middle of sentences: If you use them, place them at the end. That way, people using screen readers will not become distracted by constant repetition of the same words and those with cognitive disabilities will not have their concentration broken by excessive visuals.

Slide 4: Inclusive Language

Language matters.

Use person-first language: For example, say “people with hearing/sight loss” rather than “the deaf/blind.”
Avoid gendered phrases unless necessary: Stick to neutral pronouns such as they or them unless you know someone’s preferences.
Avoid using ableist phrases like “normal”: This can unintentionally imply that others are “abnormal or somehow of lesser value.”
Think of accessibility as more than a few technical features you need to fix: The human and social aspects should always be uppermost in your mind. Ask yourself, how can we make everyone feel welcome and included in what we are sharing?

Slide 5: Colour and Fonts

Now let us move on to the visual design of your social media posts.

Maintain strong contrast between your text and background: WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) recommend using a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for body text.
Avoid using red/green and blue/yellow combinations: These are the most difficult for people with colour blindness to distinguish.
Choose clear, simple fonts like Arial or Calibri: Avoid decorative and cursive fonts. They may look very eye-catching but they can prove difficult to read for people with Dyslexia, or other cognitive disabilities and people using screen readers.
Keep your font size at 12 points or higher whenever possible (as recommended by WCAG 2.2).

Slide 6: Links and Symbols

When sharing links in the body of your posts:

Use descriptive labels to provide readers with as much useful information about your link as you can: Say “Read our accessible e-book now”, rather than “Click here.”
Avoid long URLs, which can be a source of distraction: Use a URL shortener like bit.ly.
Never rely solely on symbols like “=” or “>”) to communicate meaning: Screen readers often misunderstand these or miss them altogether.
When using lists to share information, begin with a colon and keep items brief: Bulleted or numbered lists make content easier to scan and absorb.

Slide 7: Accessible Images

Images can be a powerful way to attract and retain your audience’s attention, but they need to be accessible as well as pleasing to the eye.

Always add alternative text (alt-text) when posting an image: This is a short description that tells someone using assistive technology what’s in the picture.

Good alt-text is:

Clear but concise
Describes any text included in the image
Includes context, such as emotions or humour, if they are an important part of the message

Example: “A woman in a yellow dress, holding an assistance dog’s harness in her left hand. She is smiling, and the words ‘Making Accessibility Happen’ are above her in bold text.”

If you use images with text, make sure the text is large enough to be easily read, uses a plain font, and clearly contrasts against the background.
Avoid GIFs if possible: They can cause seizures and don’t work well with screen readers. If you do use them, make sure they don’t flash more than three times per second, and ensure they are accompanied by clear alt-text descriptions.

Slide 8: Accessible Videos

We are visual creatures, and video is one of the most engaging ways to get your messages across, but it often excludes people when not done with an accessibility-first approach.

To make videos more accessible:

Always include captions: Preferably closed captions that include not just speech but sound cues (like “doorbell rings”).
Use the description field to provide an alt-text summary or context for the video.
Provide audio descriptions if possible, especially if visuals carry important meaning.
Never embed text that obscures faces or key visual content.
Choose a video player that supports accessibility features: YouTube, for example, allows you to toggle captions on and off, has keyboard controls, and clear buttons. It’s worth noting, YouTube also auto-generates captions, but you should always check for accuracy. It does make mistakes.

Slide 9: Accessible Hashtags

Hashtags help people find your content, but they must be accessible.

Use CamelCase: Capitalise the first letter of each word. For example: #WorkplaceInclusion

Screen readers can’t detect separate words in a lowercase hashtag, and they’re harder to read for people with dyslexia or cognitive disabilities.

Keep hashtags short and relevant
Place hashtags at the end of your post — not in the middle
Limit yourself to 2-3 per post for readability.

Slide 10: Making Social Media More Accessible with AI

AI tools are a great way to improve accessibility for both your audience and you as a content creator. But remember, they should assist you, not replace your input and judgment – this is the only way to ensure your content is accurate, inclusive, respectful and truly accessible.

Here are some ways you can harness the potential of AI:

Generate Alt Text

AI can draft image descriptions, useful when you’re short on time or unsure what to write. But always review for accuracy and context.

Summarise & Simplify your posts

Support neurodivergent users and those with visual impairments by using AI to summarise posts, explain jargon, or shift tone. Again, check the results carefully for inaccuracies.

Scan your posts for accessibility

Tools like Google Lighthouse highlight WCAG issues such as poor contrast or missing alt text. Be careful, however; they should be used as a starting point because they don’t catch everything.

Create captions & subtitles

Auto-generate captions, subtitles, or even full transcripts for your videos to support people with hearing loss or anyone who prefers to process information in a written format. As always, remember to review for clarity and tone.

Understand your audience better

AI can analyse your followers’ behaviour—what sort of posts they like, when they engage and how they engage. This will help you time posts and tailor content more effectively.

Slide 11: Signposting and Next Steps

This was a brief introduction to making your social media content accessible. The idea was to show you don’t need to be an expert to ensure everyone has a smooth, enjoyable experience when visiting your social media channels.

Just being aware and making thoughtful choices makes a huge difference.

To learn more, check out the links in the transcript of this recording to find more tips.

Thanks for watching!

Adopting an accessibility-first approach, we can make our digital communities inclusive, welcoming spaces for everyone.

Bonus

Link references

Platform Tips

Facebook supports alt text and closed captions. You should edit auto-generated captions for clarity, however. They often make mistakes or miss out on important details.
With Instagram, you need to add alt text manually. Also, place hashtags in the first comment of your post, rather than the caption.
With X, use shortened links because of the limited character count. Add descriptors such as [VIDEO], [PIC] or [AUDIO] to signal the type of content to users of assistive technology. Also, keep mentions and hashtags to the end of your post.
LinkedIn is suited to professional content. It supports Alt Text, closed captions and text-to-speech.
TikTok is not ideal for accessibility. If you must use it, ensure your videos have a clear structure with plenty of sound clues. Also, use auto-captions and describe your visual content in a voiceover