EU Accessibility Directive: What should a social media marketer know about the accessibility directive?

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a significant EU regulation that aims to ensure the accessibility of products and services for users with disabilities and elderly users. The goal of the accessibility directive is to remove accessibility barriers and create common rules. Although the accessibility directive primarily obligates social media platforms, its effects extend directly to all marketers producing content. When platforms provide accessibility-supporting tools, published content must also comply with new standards. 

What should a marketer keep in mind about the accessibility directive on social media? 

ALT text in image content

All images published on social media must have alternative text (ALT text) that describes to people with visual impairments what the content is about. The alternative text should be as concise as possible, but still sufficiently informative to describe as well as possible what happens in the content. A marketer can write the alternative text themselves or it can be created automatically. 

How to write good alternative text: 

• Be informative and sufficiently descriptive: Good alternative text tells what happens in the image. Avoid weak descriptions, such as "Photo of Troot's team".
• Be concise and to the point: Keep the description short and relevant. However, don't try to pack too much information into it.

Example:

• Weak alternative text: "Troot's team."
• Good alternative text: "Troot's 20-person team smiles at the camera in front of customer breakfast tables.

Video captions

All videos must have accurate and synchronized captions. This is important for both people with visual impairments and those who watch videos without sound. Although many platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram, offer automatic captioning functionality that video viewers can enable themselves, it is extremely important to check and correct any errors created by automatic captioning tools. 

Use emojis moderately 

Emojis are an essential part of social media communication, but their use can create accessibility challenges.

Remember these basic rules:

• Don't replace words with emojis: Emojis should never be used as mere word substitutes.
• Avoid repetition as it makes text difficult to read.
• Use as bullet points with caution and prefer traditional bullet points instead.