The Daily Social: How to Make Your Social Media Posts Accessible to Every Customer

Roughly one in four adults lives with some kind of disability, and many more scroll with the sound off, squint at a phone in bright Florida sun, or rely on screen readers to get through their feed. If your posts are hard to see, hear, or understand, a big slice of your local audience simply scrolls past. The good news is that accessible content is not extra work once you build a few habits into how you post. It also tends to perform better for everyone, because clear, readable, easy-to-follow posts win more attention. Here are six practical ways small business owners can make every post usable by every customer.

1. Add Alt Text to Every Image

Alt text is a short written description of an image that screen readers speak aloud. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X all let you add it before you publish, usually under Advanced Settings or Accessibility. Describe what matters in plain language: "Two iced lattes on a wooden table outside our Ocean Drive shop" beats "IMG_4521" every time. Keep it to one or two sentences, skip the phrase "image of," and include your product or location when it is relevant. Alt text also gives platforms more context about your post, which can help it show up in search.

2. Caption Every Video, Even the Short Ones

Most people watch video without sound, and viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing depend on captions entirely. Turn on auto-captions in Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, then read through them and fix any mistakes, especially names, prices, and your business name. If someone speaks in your video, captions are not optional. Pair them with on-screen text for the key point so the message lands even if a viewer only catches two seconds.

3. Use Strong Contrast and Readable Fonts

Light gray text on a white background or thin script fonts over a busy photo look pretty in the editor and vanish on a phone screen. Stick to dark text on light backgrounds or white text on dark solid colors, and add a subtle overlay behind text placed on photos. Choose clean, simple fonts at a size that is readable without zooming. A quick test: view your graphic at thumbnail size on your phone. If you cannot read it in two seconds, your customers cannot either.

4. Write Hashtags in CamelCase

Capitalizing the first letter of each word in a hashtag, like #VeroBeachEats instead of #verobeacheats, lets screen readers pronounce each word correctly and makes the tag easier for everyone to skim. It costs nothing, does not change how the hashtag works, and instantly makes long tags readable. Apply the same idea to your handle and any multi-word tag you use regularly.

5. Go Easy on Emojis and Fancy Text

Screen readers announce every emoji by name, so a caption with ten flame emojis becomes "fire fire fire fire" before the reader ever hears your offer. Use one or two emojis at the end of a sentence rather than as bullet points or decoration inside it. Avoid the special Unicode fonts that make text look bold or cursive in captions; screen readers often skip them entirely, and some phones display them as blank boxes.

6. Put the Important Information in the Caption, Not Just the Graphic

If your sale dates, hours, address, or phone number only live inside an image, anyone who cannot see that image misses them. Repeat the essentials in the caption text where they can be read, copied, and searched. This also helps customers who see your post shared as a link preview or in a notification. Think of the graphic as the hook and the caption as the source of truth.

Accessible posts reach more of your neighbors, build trust, and quietly improve your engagement at the same time. If you want help building these habits into your content, or you would rather hand the whole process to a local team, Vero Beach Social Media can help. Email curtis@verobeachsocialmedia.com and we will put together a plan and a clear price for your business.