Written by the ADAPT Resource Group
Have you ever considered if your website and social media are accessible to everyone? Or if some of your content might be leaving out certain groups? It turns out that a few simple changes can expand your reach and enhance inclusivity.
An accessible digital presence is more than just a compliance check—it’s about ensuring every user, candidate, and customer can fully engage with and navigate your platforms. While it’s great to include diversity in your company’s core values, taking accountability through an inclusive online presence is one easy way to bring those values to life. In this blog, we’ll cover why accessibility matters and offer practical tips to make your content more inclusive.
The Impact of Accessible Content
Accessible content is meant to be usable and understandable by everyone, including those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. Creating equitable digital spaces benefits everyone. When you consider why inclusive content matters, a few key advantages stand out:
Boost Diversity and Inclusion: Making your digital content accessible means everyone, regardless of their abilities, can interact with it. This approach helps create a more inclusive environment that represents a range of perspectives.
Ensure Fair Access: Removing barriers to digital content means all users can engage equally with your resources. This commitment to equitability shows that you value providing the same opportunities for everyone.
Strengthen Your Brand: Prioritizing accessibility highlights your dedication to social responsibility, as well as your diversity goals and core values. It also boosts your search engine optimization (SEO) and brand reputation, helping you reach a wider audience.
Many large companies seek support from their internal employee resource groups (ERGs) to drive improvements and change. At Day & Zimmermann (D&Z), our ADAPT Resource Group (Abled and Disabled Advocates Partnering Together) is vital in organizing accessibility webinars, advising on policies and best practices, and supporting employees with disabilities and their allies. Let’s look at some areas ADAPT has pinpointed for enhancing accessibility in your digital content and marketing.
3 Key Areas to Enhance Your Digital Accessibility
With so many digital platforms for communities to connect, it's important to make sure all your digital content is accessible—whether it's your website, social media, sales tools, or virtual events. It might feel overwhelming at first, but there are plenty of easy ways to improve accessibility, whether you’re working with a team or on your own
1. Your Website
What are your organization’s website goals? Whether you aim to educate visitors about your business, generate leads, or attract new talent, having an accessible website is essential for supporting your diversity and inclusion efforts.
To enhance your website’s accessibility, you might start by adding descriptive alt text to images and using high-contrast colors with readable fonts to support those with visual impairments. Making sure that interactive elements like forms and buttons are keyboard-friendly can also benefit individuals with motor impairments. Including captions for videos and transcripts for audio content will help users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Additionally, a simple design and clear navigation can improve the overall user experience for everyone.
Image description: A screenshot from the website of Yoh, a Day & Zimmermann company, highlighting the use of high-contrast colors, easy-to-read fonts, simple navigation, and captions in the embedded video.
2. Your Social Media Presence
Are there barriers preventing some groups from engaging with your social posts? Whether your content includes text, images, or videos, implementing simple accessibility measures can make your social media presence more inclusive.
To improve accessibility on your social, it's a good idea to steer clear of acronyms or abbreviations in captions, as they might be confusing for some users. Incorporating alt text and image descriptions in your visuals, as well as using closed captioning for videos, can significantly enhance accessibility. Since emojis can pose accessibility challenges, you might want to limit their use, avoid substituting them for words, and not use them at the start of bullet points. Additionally, using camel case (capitalizing the first letter of each word) for hashtags can make your content more readable for screen readers.
First image: A screenshot from Day & Zimmermann’s LinkedIn account, highlighting the use of camel case in the hashtags at the bottom of the caption. It also features high-contrast colors and readable fonts. Second image: A screenshot from Mason & Hanger, a Day & Zimmermann company’s LinkedIn account, demonstrating the use of camel case and closed captions within a video.
3. Your Webinars and Virtual Events
Are your virtual events and webinars accessible to all attendees? It’s important to ensure that participants can easily register and access the event. Everyone should also have equal opportunities to engage with all available content and resources before, during, and after the event.
To enhance accessibility for your virtual events, begin by choosing a registration and hosting platform that is accessible and user-friendly. Consider including live captioning or sign language interpretation during the event. Provide materials and resources in accessible formats, such as large print or audio, and ensure that registration and feedback forms are easy to use and navigate with a keyboard. It also helps to offer clear instructions and support for using virtual tools to further improve accessibility.
4. Your Sales Collateral & Attachments
When emailing customers, candidates, or employees, it’s important to have accessible attachments like PDFs, PowerPoint decks, and other relevant materials so that the person on the other end can easily navigate and utilize the resources sent.
To enhance the accessibility of your sales collateral and email attachments, start with clear and descriptive titles for your files and documents. Adding alt text for images and charts can help describe their content, and using accessible formats like PDFs with built-in features can be beneficial. Formatting documents with headings and lists can make them easier to navigate, and including captions for videos is also a good idea. Finally, keeping your language simple and direct can further improve accessibility, as well as regularly testing your materials to troubleshoot any accessibility issues.
Unlock Accessibility with a Growth Mindset
Accessibility is a journey, not a one-time fix. Working towards a more accessible digital presence is crucial for fostering inclusivity - even small changes can make a big difference. Embracing a learning mindset is key to ongoing improvement. At D&Z, we’re committed to this process and are partnering with our ADAPT Resource Group to create content that’s inclusive and accessible to everyone.
Embracing the practices in this blog not only broadens your audience and improves user experience but also strengthens your brand. Start implementing these accessibility strategies today to unlock new opportunities and make a meaningful impact. The path to a more accessible future starts with you!