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In recent years, there’s been much talk about creating your own personal brand which has seen the rise of many influencers, especially within the legal sector. It’s fantastic to connect with others on similar journeys into the legal profession or even with law firms themselves.

Some of you may be aware that I run my own Instagram account named the Abled Lawyer and that I’m interested in digital accessibility. I’ve therefore been exploring ways I can make my brand and social media more accessible.

After researching and speaking with people in the tech sector on digital accessibility, I’ve spent time working on my logos and communication methods to make The Abled Lawyer accessible. You’ll see these changes to my profiles in the next couple of weeks.

In the UK, at least one in five people have a long-term illness, impairment or disability. Accessible social media campaigns and posts can be incredibly effective because they can be accessed and understood by the widest possible audience, regardless of whether people have a visual, hearing, speech, motor, cognitive or another combination of impairments.

You don’t need a training course to get started on accessibility, some of the changes are easy to implement once you know how. Below, I thought I’d share some general tips that you can use to make your own brand and social media accessible.

Writing accessible social media posts

• Avoid large chunks of text. If you need to write a lengthy bit of text, consider breaking it down using paragraphs.
   
• Avoid using bold, italicised or capitalised text in your posts as these can sometimes make it more difficult to read.
   
• Avoid using non-standard symbols as substitutes for words and messages as these can confuse screen reading software.
   
• Don’t use emojis to communicate a core message as the official meaning of an emoji may not convey the message you’re trying to communicate. Most text-to-speech screen reader software will read out emoji descriptions that are included in your standard alt text.

Make your hashtags accessible

• Limit hashtags to two per post.
   
• Use capital letters at the start of each word. For example, #TheAbledLawyer.
   
• Feature hashtags at the end of the post so it doesn’t disrupt the flow of the text.

Colour and contrast

• Avoid using pale colours on pale or white backgrounds and dark colours on dark backgrounds.
• Think about using a smaller colour palette or check intersecting colours individually when using more than three.

Accessible fonts

• Don’t use small font sizes or to try and crowd content onto social media graphics.
   
• Don’t justify text – ensure text is left aligned.
   
• Try to use a sans-serif font such as Arial.

Add alt text on Instagram. Here are six steps:

1. Upload your image to Instagram.
2. Apply any filters or edits as required and then click ‘next’.
3. Click ‘advanced settings’ at the bottom of the screen.
4. Click ‘write alt text’.
5. Populate the alt text and click ‘done’.
6. Share as normal.

Want to learn more about how you can apply these tips and make the best use of social media as an aspiring lawyer? Check out this Feature.