5 Ways To Grow Your Social Media Audience

How to increase your social media reach without stepping out of your comfort zone.

I hear you – it’s a noisy world online!

It is so difficult to gain traction, grow  your audience and secure those all-important sales, referrals, and recommendations. 

So, what can you do?

The member one thing that most businesses overlook because they aren’t aware, or simply can’t be bothered to implement, is to create digital content that is accessible and inclusive. 

But where to start?

Here are my 5 top tips to set you up for accessibility success in 2024!

1. Include an image description

Every single social media post that has a graphic or an image needs to also have a description.  Not everyone accesses social media in the same way you do, including the 2.2 million visually impaired people in the UK alone.  Image descriptions allow those with sight loss to understand what you are sharing visually, and to not be excluded from your content, and therefore becoming a prospective customer or client.

2. Check your emoji use

If you are a serial emoji over-user then you are alienating your audience!  Whether it is in SMS, messages, emails, or social content, aim to use no more than 2 consecutively.  Emojis are described by a screen reader, and not always as you would expect them to be.  Plus, the description can be long, which causes confusion, frustration and inevitably causes the listener to scroll on or ignore content.  And never replace a written word with an emoji as it hinders comprehension. 

3. Turn on captions

Subtitles are not just for those who have hearing impairments.  70% of people who consume video content with the sound off have no hearing concerns at all.  That’s a massive chunk of potential viewers you exclude by not switching it on.  Captions should be on all video content, whether it is a live, reel, story, or longer form video.

4. Use accessible hashtags

Those with dyslexia find hashtags difficult to decipher, and a screen reader cannot read them as they were intended.  To rectify this, use Camel Case, which is a capital letter for the start of every word in the hashtag.  Yes, platforms don’t autosuggest this, and yes, they will try and change it back to all lower case.  But do yourself and your audience a massive favour and create accessible tags. 

5. Use platform default fonts

Don’t deviate from the standard font that comes up automatically when you create a poster edit your bo.  Using anything other than this will mean that your content isn’t accessible to a screen reader.  In essence that paragraph you’re written as a kick ass hook is invisible!  Not the desired effect you were after.

These are the most common errors I come across as a severely sight impaired online consumer of content.  There are lots of others, but if you start with these basics, make them a non-negotiable habit and get consistent, you can then build from there. 

Make it a priority to stand out from your competitors by being accessible.  The ‘Purple Pound’ as it is known in the UK is worth an estimated £11.75 billion annually.  And with 1 in 5 households in the UK having a disabled person/s, can you really afford to be excluding those potential sales?

To explore more ways in which you can educate yourself and your network, connect with me and let's chat.