Ensure Your Social Media is as Impactful as Possible

Social media is a vital part of today’s society, and as such, it must be built on a foundation of inclusion. Check out our accessibility checklist below to ensure your social media is as inclusive and impactful as possible!

Accessible Social Media = Impactful Social Media

Mach Media has always made a sincere commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). In our industry of marketing and communication, there are countless areas where these values need to be upheld.

Social media is a vital part of today’s society, and as such, must be built on a foundation of inclusion. While some people may choose to abstain from social media, others are not able to engage because of content structures that do not take their specific needs into account.

Being alienated from something like social media, a platform designed as a universal space where anyone and everyone is encouraged to contribute, can be quite upsetting for your audiences and will lead to missed engagement opportunities. When your social media is accessible to wider audiences, this is when you can make a large and lasting impact!

Social Media Accessibility Guidelines

But there’s good news! You can take steps to ensure your social media is as accessible as possible, and therefore as impactful as possible.

We’ve put together this checklist to help:

1. Ensure your videos and images are at least 150-dpi for clear imagery
2. Use simple, sans serif fonts with adequate spacing between letters so the words are easier to read
3. Use at least a 40-point font size for text within images so they are big enough to read
4. To make your text easier to read, limit the number of lines in each image and leave plenty of space above and below each line
5. Apply the “5 by 6” rule: only 5 words per line and 6 lines per slide/image so slides/images are easier to comprehend
6. Add alt-text and image descriptions for any charts, graphs, icons, images, pictures, shapes, or other media. Make sure it is descriptive enough that someone could understand what is displayed in the image without having to view it.

While this checklist can’t guarantee the inclusion of everyone, it is certainly a good start and worth the extra effort.