How to Make Social Media More Accessible to Strengthen Your Marketing Strategy

Fortunately, accessibility is becoming more important every day, and businesses are increasingly recognizing the need to create digital experiences that everyone can use, regardless of ability or context. This shift is not only driven by legal requirements and industry standards, but also by a broader understanding that inclusive design improves usability for all users. Furthermore, the application of accessibility across all aspects of marketing strategy (website, social media, etc.) has been proven to support overall SEO performance, and that’s where marketers are heading.

If you are present on social media platforms and are not following accessibility recommendations, here we are going to explain why you should start, the benefits of doing so, and how to apply it across every major social media platform.

When we talk about accessibility in social media, we are referring to the practice of making all content posted on social media accessible to everyone. This entails making text, images, and videos understandable and usable for all users, regardless of their abilities or conditions. For example, a video should be captioned so that deaf and hard of hearing people can access it.

Each type of content requires different actions to ensure accessibility, and each platform has its own way of implementing these accessibility features.

It might seem that accessibility in social media is only about inclusivity, but that assumption overlooks how digital content is actually consumed and interpreted today.

Even though the sole goal of making your content accessible should be reason enough to do it, we should understand that social media content is no longer experienced only visually or linearly. It is processed simultaneously by users, algorithms, search engines, and AI systems, all of which rely on clarity, structure, and context to interpret what is being shared. Accessibility plays a key role in providing that context.

When you implement accessibility features, you are not just adapting content for specific users, but you are making it more explicit and understandable overall. Elements such as captions, transcripts, and alt text translate visual or audio information into structured text, similar to how schema markup works. This does not simply “add accessibility”; it changes how content can be interpreted, analyzed, and distributed across digital environments.

In this sense, accessibility aligns closely with how modern discovery systems work. Search engines and AI tools depend heavily on textual and structured signals to process content, while social media platforms prioritize formats that are easy to consume and interact with. Without accessible elements, a significant portion of your content remains visible only to some users and, furthermore, less interpretable to systems that influence reach and visibility.

This is why accessibility should not be seen as an afterthought, a separate or an optional layer, but as part of how content is created in the first place. It directly affects how clearly your message is communicated, how consistently it can be interpreted across different contexts, and how effectively it can circulate within increasingly complex digital ecosystems.

Yes, but not in the way search engines do. Tools like ChatGPT don’t directly crawl or browse social media platforms like Google does with websites. Instead, they work with a mix of trained data, publicly available information, and in some cases integrations or connected tools.

This is important because it means social media content isn’t automatically “visible” to AI systems in the same way it is to search engines. However, when content is public and well-structured, accessibility features like captions, transcripts, and alt text still make it easier for AI systems to understand what the content is about and potentially reuse or interpret it.

That said, not all platforms are equally open. For example, even though it hasn’t been officially announced, LinkedIn doesn’t allow ChatGPT to access users’ information, as stated by Alex Galinos in his LinkedIn post. Other platforms have different rules and levels of restriction, so it really depends on the specific platform.

Because of this, it’s important not to assume that everything you post on social media is automatically accessible or usable by AI tools. Before building anything around AI visibility, it’s worth checking each platform’s policy so you actually know how your content can be accessed and used.

We have already talked about the main benefit of implementing accessibility in your social media from a marketer’s perspective, which is allowing both AI tools and search engines to better understand and process your content. However, it has other benefits that can not only improve your content performance and expand your audience reach, but also help create a more inclusive brand experience for all users.

Making your content accessible for a wider audience. No one should be prevented from accessing content, and that is the main goal of accessibility. As mentioned before, by implementing these features, you can make your content accessible to a wider audience, regardless of their ability or condition.

Higher engagement and visibility in social media platforms. As more people can consume your content, it will naturally receive more likes, shares, and comments, improving its overall performance. When more users interact with it, algorithms are more likely to identify it as valuable content, which can increase its visibility.

Helping both search engines and AI to understand your content better. As stated before, when you make content accessible, you are also helping crawlers better understand it, as you are providing structured data that is easily understood by both search engines and AI systems. Implementing clear captions, transcripts, descriptive text, and semantic structure helps these tools accurately interpret your content, increasing the likelihood of it being ranked or surfaced.

Making your content crawlable for search engines and AI. As you are helping search engines and AI understand your content, your content will be crawlable, making the likelihood of being cited or surfaced in different formats by both these tools higher. Accessible content can also be repurposed into summaries, snippets, or voice responses.

Improving user engagement time. Adding accessibility features like captions on videos can keep users engaged for longer, which can indirectly boost rankings. According to recent statistics published by Facebook, adding accessibility features such as captions can increase video view time by up to 12%. By providing these features, you are not only making users more engaged with your content, but also reducing bounce rates, as clear, readable, and inclusive content helps prevent users from dropping off.

Compliance with accessibility standards. Even though accessibility standards don’t currently require social media content to be accessible, as they mainly focus on websites for now, this doesn’t mean they won’t include it in the future. By getting ahead of potential regulations, you can save a significant amount of time later on.

Furthermore, even if laws don’t require it, most social media platforms have their own accessibility guidelines. While these are often recommendations rather than strict requirements, they exist for a reason. Aligning with these platform guidelines will not harm your social media strategy, and even though it is not officially stated, it could help improve the performance and reach of your content.

Improving brand reputation. By being more accessible, you show that your brand considers a wider range of users and their different needs when creating content. This reflects positively on your brand values, positioning it as more thoughtful, inclusive, and user-focused. Over time, this can strengthen trust and improve how your audience perceives your brand across social media platforms.

Now that you know all the benefits, let’s see how to make that content accessible.

There are plenty of social media platforms, and each has its own way of making content accessible. Some are highly focused on photos, others on text, and some are a mix of both. In this section, we will explain how to create accessible content for each major social media platform so you can easily implement it.

X, Bluesky and Threads

We have decided to group these three together as these social media platforms are quite similar: they are highly text-based, but also allow users to share images and videos. There are some recommendations regarding the three types of content you can share on them:

Text-based posts

For this type of post, you need to consider the use of emojis and hashtags:

Emojis can be used, but they shouldn’t be inserted in every word, as this makes reading more difficult. They should be used in moderation, preferably at the end of sentences. For example:

Instead of: I love coffee ☕, music 🎵, and traveling ✈️ on weekends 🌍. Write: I love coffee, music, and traveling on weekends ☕🎵✈️.
Regarding hashtags, they can also be used, but again in moderation, as they can make content harder to read. Whenever you use them, capitalize the words for easier readability — that way you allow users and screen readers to identify the sentence properly.

Image-based posts

When posting an image on these platforms, what you should focus on is the alt text. This concept, which we will revisit throughout the article, is defined as “[a] descriptive text that conveys the meaning of an image in digital content. It’s designed to make visual content accessible to people with vision disabilities,” as stated by the GSA.

When posting this type of content, you should always add alt text, a feature that is easy to implement, as you will find the option simply by clicking on the image editing tool, where you’ll see an ALT icon. Write the alt text there, save it, and publish the post.

Remember that alt text should be a description of the image; it should never be a place to add keywords or unrelated or incomplete information. Try to describe the image by highlighting its most important aspects, and always transcribe any text included in it to make it as accessible as possible. If you don’t know how to do it, we recommend checking these Harvard recommendations.

Video-based posts

Regarding the upload of a video on these platforms, captions are crucial. We recommend captioning the video yourself, as auto-captions are not very accurate (to say the least). If possible, add the .srt file separately instead of burning the captions into the video. That way, you ensure that search engines and AI systems can access the captions. This option is not always available, but when it is, it’s the better choice.

And if you want to go further with video accessibility, you can also add audio descriptions (AD) to your video or, at the very least, add a reply post describing the video visually.

Instagram

As we all know, Instagram is a social media platform where images and videos are the main focus. It combines different types of content and posts, and each has its own intricacies. Let’s see what you should do to make the content on this platform accessible.

The caption of the post

The text below your post can also be inaccessible. There are some things you should take into account when writing it.

As in X, Bluesky, and Threads, if you use hashtags, they must be capitalized for easier readability. On Instagram specifically, hashtags are often better placed in a comment instead of in the actual caption.
You can use emojis, but as we mentioned before, with moderation and preferably at the end of sentences. Don’t use emojis to visually structure your content, as this does not have a positive impact on accessibility. For example:

Instead of: 👉 Coffee ☕ boosts focus 🚀 👉 Music 🎵 improves mood 💡 👉 Travel ✈️ inspires creativity 🌍

Write: Coffee boosts focus 🚀 Music improves mood 💡 Travel inspires creativity ✈️

The photo or image of the post

Regarding images, it’s very similar to what you do on X. You will find an “Alternative Text” option every time you want to post a photo or a carousel in your feed.

Select your images, add the caption (always following our accessibility recommendations), add music… do whatever you want with your post.
As soon as you have everything ready, in the last step before finally publishing it, you will see a “More options” section at the end. Click there.
In that section, you will find (again at the end) an accessibility section for alt text. Click there and write the description of all the images.

To learn how to do it in a more visual way, check the following video:

Reels

Reels are the way videos are posted on Instagram. They follow a specific format, as they are vertical instead of horizontal, but the approach to making them accessible is the same as for other videos: captioning them. In fact, you will notice that almost every video is captioned, as more and more users prefer to watch videos muted. However, that does not mean those captions are always well-made or correctly set up.

As recommended for X, Bluesky, and Threads videos, caption your videos yourself following the guidelines shared by 3Play Media or, if you have the budget, hire a professional captioner who can create customized captions that follow accessibility standards and make your content truly accessible.

Instagram does not allow you to upload an .srt file directly, but there is a workaround. Instead of using burned-in subtitles, you can rely on autogenerated captions and then edit them for accuracy.

Stories

This original Instagram feature can be tricky, as it mixes text, images, and video, but it can be made accessible quite easily. The accessibility approach will depend on the type of content you upload.

Don’t upload an image with the text burned into it. Instead, use the app’s text tools so the content is accessible to screen readers. When writing the text, make sure the colors used have enough contrast and always choose fonts that are easy to read (sans-serif fonts are the best option), in a size that is also easy to read.
When sharing a video, always add automatic captions, which are easy to enable (follow these steps and recommendations by Accessibility Made Easy), and edit them afterwards to ensure accuracy.
When adding a link, always use descriptive text instead of generic phrases like “click here” or “read more.” Make sure the link text clearly explains what the user will find when they tap it.
Regarding uploading an image that has no text in it, there is no direct option to add alt text. However, you can still make it accessible even if the option is not available. How? By writing text that can be read by screen readers but is not visible to sighted users. To do so, use the text tool in Stories, make the text as small as possible, and place it off-screen or in a hidden area of the story. In this way, there is text that will be read by screen readers without distracting sighted users.

Facebook

Facebook is quite similar to Instagram regarding access, as it has the same formats as the other social platform: images, videos, captions and stories. However, it has some differences regarding the way you make the content accessible. Let’s break it down:

For the text, follow the same recommendations given before regarding the use of emojis and hashtags.
For images, add alt text by clicking on “Edit” or the three-dot menu on an image while creating a post (or afterward), select “Alt Text,” and write the description.
For videos, you have three options: burn the captions, edit the automatic ones provided by Facebook to make them good, or add the .srt file (check this Facebook post to do it, as it is a bit complicated). You can also do a combination of burning the captions and adding the .srt file; whatever is best for you.
Regarding stories, you can add auto-generated captions, add the description of the image as we explained for Instagram, and, of course, make sure there is high contrast for low-vision folks.

As you can see, it’s quite similar to Instagram (well, Meta is the same company), except for the .srt file thing.

YouTube

As mentioned in the Instagram videos section, what’s crucial regarding videos is for them to have captions. In YouTube’s case, you have the possibility of burning them in, but also of adding the .srt file, which is quite nice as in that way you ensure the transcription is crawled. To do that, you should follow these steps:

After your video has been uploaded, go to YouTube Studio and select “Content”.
Choose the video you want to add captions to.
Click the pencil icon and then “Subtitles” in the left menu.
Click “Add Language” and choose the language of the subtitles. In this case, they are captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, so it’s the same language as the video.
Then click “Add” under subtitles to select “Upload file”.
Choose “With timing”, select your .srt file, and click “Publish”.

Remember that this is not just a transcription. Captions are well-done, timed subtitles made with professional subtitling tools like Subtitle Edit, Subtitle Workshop, or even others like Premiere or CapCut. It’s important that they include timecodes in order to be accessible.

Disclaimer: Yes, we know we have skipped some social media platforms like LinkedIn or TikTok, but those are quite similar to the others listed here in the way you can add accessibility and their possibilities. After learning how to make your Instagram posts accessible, you will probably know how to do it on TikTok and LinkedIn — promise.

Why You Should Care About Accessibility

The main reason you should care about accessibility is because you have to provide access to everyone; that’s the main reason. But we know not everybody is going to engage with that, as accessibility can sound time-consuming. That’s when other accessibility benefits come in and you start to make it part of your strategy.

As mentioned in the article, in addition to doing the right thing, accessibility can actually help you with your overall digital marketing strategy by helping both search engines and AI tools better understand your content and therefore being able to gain visibility in those mediums, as well as enhancing your social media strategy.

By adding accessibility features, you won’t only be inclusive — you will have another trick to enhance your overall marketing strategy, attracting more users, gaining visibility, and improving your brand’s reputation. Don’t miss out on access — do what you gotta do!

What Does Accessibility Mean in Social Media?

Why Is Accessibility Important in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy?

Can ChatGPT access social media?

Benefits of making your social media content accessible

How to Create Accessible Social Media Content?