Whether you're publishing images on a landing page or on social media as part of your digital campaign, use alt text to describe the image you're posting. Internet users who are blind or visually impaired may use a screen reader to access the content. With alt text in place for the images, the screen reader will be able to audibly read out your alt text description of the image being used. Social media platforms Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram have incorporated options to add alt text when uploading images on their platform. A website will usually have the option to add alt text within the content management system or the tags can be coded in manually.
Statewide Digital Accessibility Program Administrator at Texas Department of Information Resources
Answered 4 years ago
Digital campaigns have a greater reach when digital accessibility is adopted throughout the organization. Organizations should look at adopting digital accessibility not just as a process change, but also as a cultural shift. When digital accessibility is adopted throughout the organization, it is not only baked into policies and processes, but digital accessibility also becomes integral in hiring practices, continuity of operations planning, procurement, project planning, communications, office layout, team building, community initiatives, etc. It becomes an organizational shift from the top down rather than a task or function for an individual department. Benefits of adopting accessibility throughout the culture are better relationships and expanded collaboration, and increased innovation with more diverse talent.
People have varying degrees of ability when interacting with digital media. For example, those who are short of sight may require a screen reader or magnifier, and those who are hard of hearing may need subtitling options. These inclusions are necessary to facilitate an equal browsing experience, and without them, it could create a barrier which prevents users with impairments from interacting. As such, it's crucial not to overlook the importance of proper accessibility for your campaign. To ensure that your digital campaign is accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities, create content that can be consumed in a range of different formats. If a campaign exists only on a single channel, such as text, it could alienate an entire subset of consumers who cannot engage with that content. By making sure that visual and audio elements have established equivalents, such as captions and transcripts, all users can consume your content and learn from it in a way that works for them.
It's very important to follow the guidelines specified for the platforms for which you're creating content. Some platforms may have accessibility features that make it easier to create digital content. For example, YouTube has a feature for closed captioning videos and a special site for people with disabilities that allows for a faster response time. There are many other ways to improve digital campaigns so that they're accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities.
Screen readers do a great job of aiding accessibility. But for those with learning disabilities, shortness of sight, or even people studying English, the way that you write can make or break your content's legibility. If a screen reader struggles to verbalize what you've written, it could completely exclude these users from engaging. You should always make sure that your content is written in a clear and easily-digestible fashion, but pay the closest attention to your use of hashtags. Hashtags are commonly used in digital campaigns. However, they're notorious for giving screen readers a hard time because they use no spacing. For users that depend on this software, this can be very limiting. To ensure that your hashtag remains legible, use camel case. This is the difference between "#diversityandinclusion" and "#DiversityAndInclusion". The second option is both easier on the eyes and more straight-forward for screen reader software to understand, helping users of every ability.
Forms can often be a challenge for some users; therefore, it's important to design them in a way that accommodates everyone. It's critical to show your users a dynamic interface that offers modifications based on their specific needs. Users can automatically adjust the web design or make specific changes in color, content, display, and navigation. For example, a user with epilepsy can choose an "epilepsy safe profile," which eliminates flashes and reduces color, while a visually impaired user might choose a profile that enhances the website's visuals. Offering your users' choice is a great way to make sure your campaigns are inclusive and accessible.
To improve digital campaigns, finding local micro-influencers that are disabled and partnering with them is one of the best ways of relating to disabled customers in your niche. Most of us tend to follow and buy from people that look like us and who also share similar characteristics. Discovering disabled influencers on social networking platforms will unveil hundreds of opportunities to connect with like-minded customers.
One of the quickest ways to make your campaigns accessible and inclusive is to use a tool like webaim.org to check the contrast of your campaign colors. When there is not enough contrast, like a light blue text color on a white background, it makes visibility difficult for both humans and screen readers. The WebAIM contrast checker is easy to use and will help you select text colors and sizes that meet ADA requirements and help your campaigns be inclusive.
Most marketers are well used to making excellent video presentations for use on websites and social media in this age, and great care is put into their production of them. However, these videos can be of limited use to people with hearing disabilities. When we consider that upwards of 15% of the US adult population have a hearing disability, this equates to approximately 38 million potential customers who cannot derive the full messages from your advertisements. It takes a little effort, but by adding subtitles to your videos, you have the opportunity to capture a share of that market. Not only will your message be accessible to an increased market, but you will show the compassionate side of your business and you stand to benefit from the perception of your business as accessible to and inclusive of all, regard of their disability.
Always test your digital campaign with a disabled person. It's easy to forget that people with disabilities use the web, but they're a significant portion of the population. When writing copy, write it from the perspective of someone who is blind or visually impaired. That way you'll be sure to avoid unnecessary jargon and tricky acronyms that can be hard to decipher. The same goes for video content. If the audio is poor quality or doesn't have captions, it can be difficult to understand. If you want to accurately convey your message, prioritize audio quality and captioning. When designing, keep in mind the differences in how people with disabilities read. This can include people with dyslexia or dyspraxia. It's always good practice to provide a clean and easy-to-follow layout and navigation. This will not only aid accessibility, but it will create an overall better user experience.
Start by checking your website's accessibility using a tool like the WAVE tool, and implementing the recommendations provided. You can also ensure that all of your videos have captions and transcripts, as well as clear sound and good lighting. You should also look into using color blindness filters on your website or app, which will help people with color blindness navigate it more easily.
A lot of companies are using assistive technologies to broaden their digital campaigns to disabled people so that they can be able to reach more people and sell more. These assistive technologies include things like special keyboards for navigation, text to speech technology, and screen reading technology. A lot of times the internet has discriminated against people that have disabilities by making content that is not available to them. Integrating these technologies into your digital campaign increases its reach to a wide group of people. It ensures that you are able to sell more products and services by marketing to anyone without discrimination.
One tip to improve digital campaigns so that they're accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities is to ensure that the content is readable by all. You can achieve this by using high-contrast colors for text and background. There are a variety of tools online you can use to test your site's color scheme. Also, make sure your font size is large enough for people who have difficulty seeing or reading small print. If you're using a web-based tool, there's an accessibility checker that will tell you if your font is readable and if it's large enough for various screen sizes. Lastly, ensure that the content isn't too cluttered or has too many moving parts—this can be hard to do when designing something like an infographic, but it's important! A good rule of thumb is to keep things simple and make sure there aren't too many things happening at once on the page that might distract from the information being conveyed in the first place
Work with, not for, underinvested communities by Co-designing research. Going beyond participant recruitment by fostering relationships with organizations that represent the interests of the underinvested communities , so that your research is informed by members of that community including their needs into user research when ever possible.
Make sure that the website or app is compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies. By doing so, people with disabilities will be able to access the message and calls to action within the digital campaign.
Cast actors and models in your campaign images and videos with disabilities. Given that 1 in 5 Americans have a disability, seeking people with disabilities for your campaigns should be a relatively simple task that costs you no extra money. Place people with disabilities in your campaigns as you would an actor without a disability - don’t tokenize or stereotype their presence or behavior. Normalize people with disabilities living their lives and send the message that your business is committed to sharing a realistic view of the people of America. Show your support and acknowledge that people with disabilities are a big part of your brand’s success.
Screen readers can be a vital tool for those with visual impairments, and with this in mind, it makes perfect sense to consider this when creating your digital content. The text of your content shouldn't cause too many problems, but with images playing a large part in your campaign, you need to consider the alt text. This is the text that is displayed when the mouse is hovered over the image when enabled to describe the image. First of all, it is important to ensure that alt text is enabled in your image. You need to consider how the screen reader sees this text. It won't be able to make sense of unusual fonts, so keep it basic. In addition, the screen reader has a character limit, usually around 125 characters, so make use of that limit. Don't include unnecessary details. Make sure to try out the text once you have completed it, even better if you can have a visually impaired person test it for you.
An aspect of inclusive digital campaigns that is often neglected is how inclusive your website itself is. You need to ensure that your imagery has the correct alt text for screen readers, that your text is of a reasonable size and is easily readable, and that you’re providing the exact same experience for any visitors who may require accessibility support compared to those who do not. This needs to then extend to any on-site digital campaigns.
You can incorporate people with disabilities within the content of your marketing campaigns. For instance, you can include images of people in wheelchairs or with prosthetic legs. By promoting more disability representation in your campaign content, people will see that your brand is truly inclusive of those with disabilities.
Digital campaigns thrive with their feature of being dynamic and different from one another. In order to have a campaign that is inclusive of people with disabilities, there are two effective ways for that. The first is to provide various content that ranges in type, so that people with disabilities can relate to the one appropriate for them. In that sense, there must be variations of the same campaign - written content, video, audio, events, speaking opportunities, engaging campaigns, call-for-action, etc., which are addressed to people with disabilities that would normally feel excluded. Secondly, if your product or service is exclusive of people with disabilities, make sure to create a second variant that specifically targets people with disabilities and thus focus on promoting that in a separate manner where focus is placed on the inclusion part. These are the most efficient ways to include people of all natures.