How to Make Your Instagram Account More Accessible
Ensuring that your business account on Instagram is accessible isn’t only just the right thing to do, it can also improve engagement and strengthen your sense of community with your audience.
Having an ACCESSIBLE Instagram account is easier than you may think!
We often view accessibility as being a physical concept, like climbing stairs or the entrance to a building, but really accessibility is just as important when it comes to the digital world, especially for those with visual and hearing conditions.
Instagram Story & Video Subtitles
It is shown that 85% of video on Instagram is watched without sound, so making your content digestible without audio is a no-brainer. Subtitles are great for people without sound, but they are also ESSENTIAL for those with hearing difficulties as well.
Instagram recently released a new accessibility feature that automatically adds captions to IGTV videos in 16 different languages.
While Instagram is definitely working on becoming more accessible, they aren’t fully there just yet. While we wait for future product enhancement that will make Instagram fully accessible, there are a lot of tools and features that can help businesses create more inclusive content.
Capitalizing Each Word in Instagram Hashtags
Hashtags are the most important part in the discovery experience on instagram. Following these guidelines helps make them more accessible to the blind community:
Capitalize each word: this helps accessibility screen readers to correctly read out your hashtags.
Space out each hashtag so they are not jumbled together.
This seems like a simple step but if not followed, screen readers will read the hashtag as one word. By simply capitalizing each word, you’re taking great steps towards creating an Instagram profile that’s accessible!
Descriptive Detailed Captions
Adding subtitles to your Instagram videos and capitalizing your hashtags are a great start to making your Instagram account more accessible, but if you’re looking to up your game to the next level, use your Instagram captions to provide VALUABLE extra information and context.
Just this past week Instagram has added the new feature of auto-captions for IG Stories - a real game changer! Auto-captions are super simple to use and a great way to transition your account to becoming more accessible.
For those with hearing loss, captions are a great opportunity for you to provide extra details about the sounds or music in your video posts. Sound is often used as a tone-setter in videos, so by explaining the use of sound in your captions you will create a RICHER experience for ALL of your audience.
Tip: If you are unsure of how to add inclusive details into your captions, try watching your videos with sound on but your eyes close, then again with your eyes open and sound off. This will help you to get to a create side with your Instagram captioning.
Although these changes may seem small and subtle, they will have a positive effect on how individuals with hearing or visual difficulties experience and overall interact with your brand’s page and content.
You have the power to make a DIFFERENCE and create an inclusive space for all in your community!
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Bonne Media