Social Media Accessibility: How to Make Your Social Content More Accessible

Social media is supposed to connect people. But if your social media content isn't accessible, you could be excluding a significant part of the audience you're trying to reach.

Around 1.3 billion people globally - approximately 1 in 6 - experience significant disability. In the UK, 16.7 million people are disabled, equivalent to around 1 in 4 of the population.

That makes social media accessibility much more than a niche consideration or a box to tick at the end of production. It's about audience reach, inclusive marketing and making sure as many people as possible can access, understand and engage with your content.

It's also becoming increasingly important for social media teams.

UK public-sector organisations already have formal digital accessibility requirements, with websites and mobile apps required to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA. While the exact requirements aren't the same for every private-sector brand or individual social media post, more businesses are paying attention to accessible content and adopting the same principles across their digital marketing.

For brands, the question is becoming less "Do we need to think about accessibility?" and more:

"How do we make our social media content accessible from the start?"

What is social media accessibility?

Social media accessibility means creating content that can be accessed, understood and interacted with by as many people as possible, including people with disabilities.

That could include people who:

• Use screen readers.
• Are deaf or hard of hearing and rely on captions.
• Are blind or partially sighted.
• Use screen magnification.
• Have difficulty distinguishing certain colours.
• Navigate digitally using assistive technology.
• Benefit from clear language and simplified visual presentation.

Many accessibility improvements also make social media content easier for everyone to consume.

Captions are useful when someone is watching a TikTok on the train without headphones. Strong colour contrast makes a graphic easier to read outside in bright sunlight. Clear copy helps someone scanning LinkedIn between meetings.

Accessible social media is often simply more usable social media.

What are WCAG accessibility guidelines?

If you're researching social media accessibility guidelines, you'll quickly come across WCAG.

WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG is one of the most widely recognised international frameworks for digital accessibility.

WCAG is based around four principles. Digital content should be:

• Perceivable - people need to be able to perceive the information being presented.
• Operable - people need to be able to navigate and interact with it.
• Understandable - information and interactions should be clear.
• Robust - content should work with different technologies, including assistive technologies.

Social platforms don't always give brands complete control over accessibility. But there is plenty that social media managers, designers, creators and agencies can control.

That includes alt text, captions, colour contrast, typography, copy, video production and the way information is communicated.

How to make social media posts accessible

The best approach is to make accessibility part of your social media workflow rather than something you check five minutes before publishing.

Here are some of the most important areas to consider.

1. Write accessible social media copy

Accessible social content starts with the caption.

Someone shouldn't have to see every element of your graphic to understand what you're communicating.

Make sure:

• The main message appears within the written post copy.
• Dates, prices, offers, terms and CTAs aren't only included within graphics.
• The first few lines make the purpose of the post clear.
• Copy uses clear, relatively plain language.
• Unfamiliar acronyms and jargon are explained.
• Links describe where they lead rather than relying on phrases such as "click here".
• Emojis support your copy rather than replacing meaningful words.
• Important information isn't communicated using an emoji, colour or visual cue alone.
• Time-sensitive content clearly includes relevant dates, deadlines and time zones.

Think of your caption as another route into the content.

If someone can't access the creative in the way you originally intended, can they still understand the message?

2. Use accessible hashtags

One of the easiest social media accessibility best practices to implement is changing the way you write hashtags.

For multi-word hashtags, capitalise the first letter of each word.

Instead of:

#socialmediaaccessibility

Use:

#SocialMediaAccessibility

This makes individual words easier to distinguish visually and can help assistive technologies interpret hashtags more clearly.

It's a tiny change that can become standard practice across your social team immediately.

3. Add alt text to social media images

Alt text for social media provides a written alternative to visual content, helping people using screen readers understand the purpose of an image.

Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and other major social platforms provide different options for adding alternative text to images.

Good alt text should focus on the information someone needs to understand the post.

For example, if you're sharing a photograph of your CEO speaking at an industry event, useful alt text might identify the person, event and what they're doing.

You probably don't need to describe every chair, light fitting and coffee cup in the background.

When writing social media alt text:

• Describe the image's purpose and relevant information.
• Keep descriptions concise where possible.
• Don't stuff SEO keywords into alt text.
• Avoid automatically starting every description with "image of".
• Don't waste time describing purely decorative details.
• Provide a longer image description for complex visuals where necessary.
• Give infographics a written alternative containing the important figures and conclusions.

Most importantly, don't leave essential information trapped inside an image.

If your social graphic contains a launch date, discount or CTA, repeat that information within accessible written copy.

4. Check colour contrast and accessible social media design

Accessible social media design isn't about making everything beige.

Brands can retain strong visual identities while making better design decisions.

Under WCAG 2.2, the recommended minimum contrast ratio is 4.5:1 for normal-sized text and 3:1 for large text.

Social media teams should pay particular attention to:

• Text over photography.
• Text over gradients.
• Pale brand colour combinations.
• Small typography.
• Video captions.
• Charts and infographics.
• Buttons and CTAs.

It's worth contrast-checking your core social media templates once and establishing approved brand colour combinations rather than leaving every designer to check from scratch.

And remember: don't rely on colour alone to communicate meaning.

If red represents one data point and green represents another, label them. If different colours indicate different stages of a process, include another written or visual cue.

5. Design social content for mobile readability

Your carousel might look beautifully legible when it fills a 27-inch designer's monitor.

Then someone opens Instagram on their phone.

Accessible social media design needs to account for how content is actually consumed.

That means:

• Using large, readable typography.
• Keeping text on graphics concise.
• Avoiding paragraphs squeezed onto carousel slides.
• Giving text plenty of space.
• Keeping important information away from platform UI.
• Giving Stories enough dwell time to be read.
• Testing social assets on an actual mobile device before publishing.

If you need to pinch and zoom to read your own social post, simplify it.

6. Add accurate captions to every social media video

If you're looking for one of the biggest improvements you can make to video accessibility on social media, start with captions.

Captions make videos accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, but their usefulness goes much further.

People watch social content while commuting, sitting in offices, putting babies to sleep, standing in queues and pretending they're paying attention during TV ad breaks.

Your audience won't always have the sound switched on.

Every speech-led video should therefore have accurate captions.

Before publishing:

• Check automatic captions for errors.
• Correct names, places, brands and technical terminology.
• Identify speakers where necessary.
• Include meaningful non-speech audio when it's important to understanding the content.
• Synchronise captions with the dialogue.
• Make captions large enough to read.
• Maintain sufficient contrast against the footage.
• Keep captions away from faces, product details, CTAs and platform UI.
• Repeat important dates, prices and CTAs in accompanying written copy.
• Consider transcripts for longer, information-heavy videos.

Auto-captions are a useful starting point.

They're not an excuse to skip the proofread.

7. Make visual information accessible in video

Captions make audio accessible.

They don't automatically make visual information accessible.

Imagine a creator demonstrating a product and saying:

"Look what happens when I do this."

They press a button.

"How good is that?"

Without seeing the action, you've learned almost nothing.

Instead, creators and presenters can naturally describe meaningful visual information:

"When I press the accessibility button, the text immediately increases in size."

It's a small scripting difference that makes the video understandable to more people without making the content feel unnatural.

For longer or particularly visual content, audio description may also be appropriate.

Currys' 'The Sigh of Relief': accessible content done right

One of the strongest recent examples of accessible advertising and video content is Currys and AMV BBDO's The Sigh of Relief.

The campaign won Channel 4's 2024/25 Diversity in Advertising Award, created in response to the broadcaster's "Inclusive by Design" brief.

What makes the campaign such a useful example isn't simply that accessibility features were added to the finished advert.

Accessibility was part of the creative idea itself.

The campaign follows disabled customers shopping for technology and appliances, with Currys colleagues quickly understanding their requirements and recommending useful accessible product features.

A British Sign Language interpreter is incorporated into the action. Audio description becomes part of the narrative. Accessibility isn't sitting around the edges of the creative - it's woven through it.

Importantly, it still feels like Currys.

It's funny, exaggerated and consistent with the brand's established creative style. Accessible content hasn't meant stripping the personality out of the campaign.

For social media teams, that's the gold standard.

Instead of:

We've finished the content. How do we make it accessible?

The question becomes:

How can accessibility inform the idea, casting, script, production and edit from the beginning?

That's a much more interesting creative challenge.

8. Make Instagram carousels and social graphics accessible

Static social content needs just as much consideration as video.

When creating graphics, Instagram carousels, LinkedIn documents and infographics:

• Keep typography large enough for mobile.
• Maintain strong colour contrast.
• Avoid placing important text over busy photography.
• Don't communicate meaning through colour alone.
• Label charts and graphs clearly.
• Include key data from infographics in accompanying written copy.
• Make sure carousel slides can be understood in sequence without requiring readers to remember tiny details.
• Avoid excessive decorative typography.
• Keep layouts relatively uncluttered.
• Avoid unnecessary flashing or strobing animation.
• Check platform safe areas before publishing.

Complex graphics should always have another route to the information they contain.

A screen reader can't appreciate the beautifully colour-coded graph your design team spent three hours creating.

9. Build accessibility into influencer marketing

Accessibility shouldn't stop when content leaves your internal social team.

If your brand works with influencers or content creators, include accessibility requirements within your creator briefs and approval process.

Depending on the campaign, ask creators to:

• Caption spoken dialogue accurately.
• Verbalise important visual information.
• Avoid tiny text overlays.
• Leave safe areas for captions.
• Avoid excessive flashing transitions.
• Include essential campaign information in written copy.
• Make product demonstrations understandable without relying entirely on visuals.
• Follow agreed accessibility guidelines before content is submitted.

The same standards should apply to paid social.

Your audience doesn't experience your paid team, influencer team, organic team and production team separately.

They experience your brand.

10. Create an accessible social media workflow

The biggest accessibility improvement most brands can make isn't a new Instagram feature.

It's changing the process.

Instead of treating accessibility as a final QA check, build it into your social media strategy.

That could mean:

• Naming an accessibility owner within your social or marketing team.
• Including accessibility requirements in creative briefs.
• Adding accessibility requirements to creator contracts and briefs.
• Creating approved accessible brand colour combinations.
• Establishing minimum typography sizes for social assets.
• Creating caption-safe video templates.
• Building alt text into publishing workflows.
• Training community managers to use platform accessibility features.
• Reviewing accessibility during creative approvals.
• Applying the same standards across organic, paid, influencer and production.
• Auditing existing social media content periodically.

You don't need to make your entire social archive accessible overnight.

Start with the content you're creating now, then prioritise high-value evergreen content.

Social media accessibility checklist

Before publishing your next social media post, ask:

• Can someone understand the main message without seeing the image?
• Can someone understand the video without hearing it?
• Does important visual information have a written or spoken alternative?
• Have we added meaningful alt text or an image description?
• Have video captions been manually checked?
• Is typography readable on a mobile phone?
• Does text have sufficient colour contrast?
• Are we relying on colour alone to communicate anything?
• Are multi-word hashtags capitalised?
• Is essential information repeated within the post copy?
• Are captions and text clear of platform UI?
• Have we tested the asset on a real device?
• Would the content still make sense if someone consumed it differently from the way we originally designed it?

If the answer to any of these is no, there's probably an easy improvement you can make before hitting publish.

How to audit social media accessibility

For brands with large or established social channels, it's also worth carrying out a periodic social media accessibility audit.

Take a representative sample of content from your major channels and review static posts, carousels, video, Stories, paid advertising and creator content.

Look at:

• The percentage of meaningful images with useful alt text or image descriptions.
• The percentage of videos with accurate, reviewed captions.
• Whether graphics meet colour contrast requirements.
• Whether important visual information is repeated in text or audio.
• Mobile readability across carousels and graphics.
• Caption placement and readability.
• Accessibility of paid social assets.
• Accessibility of influencer content.
• Recurring problems within brand templates.
• Gaps within briefing and approval processes.

Then prioritise the problems that prevent people accessing the message altogether.

Start by captioning video, moving essential information out of graphics and into post copy, fixing poor colour contrast and small typography, and building accessibility requirements into future creator and production briefs.

Why social media accessibility matters for brands

Accessibility isn't simply a compliance conversation.

It's an audience conversation.

With around 1 in 4 people in the UK disabled, designing social content around one assumed way of seeing, hearing and interacting with it doesn't make much sense.

Some people use screen readers. Some need captions. Some magnify their screens. Some find certain colour combinations difficult to distinguish. Some process information differently.

And plenty of people without disabilities benefit from exactly the same accessibility features.

The strongest accessible content doesn't feel like something has been added at the end.

It feels like the audience was considered from the beginning.

Accessible social content protects reach. Captions, image descriptions, readable design and accessible-first production give more people more ways to access your message.

And ultimately, making content easier for more people to consume isn't only good accessibility.

It's good social media marketing.

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