Communicating effectively on social networks with diverse audiences

Successful communication means the ability to be understood by as many people as possible. This can seem like a daunting task when addressing a diverse audience. But whether your audience is facing dyslexic, visual, or auditory difficulties, there are methods to help you spread information more effectively. In the context of the collaboration between Open Museum and Museum Night Fever, a training was organised on inclusive social media communication, together with 2 experts, Passe Muraille and Oranje vzw. This training raised awareness on the importance of accessible communication, essential condition for promoting the autonomy and agency of the audiences we wish to reach. After this training, both partners worked together to formulate a series of “best practices” (FR/NL) based on its Global Access methodology*, to assist you in creating accessible content for your social media channels.

Think your institution’s on the right track? Find out with the Open Museum checklist! Test it now using your latest social media post.

• The colour of the text on a coloured background provides sufficient contrast (https://www.anysurfer.be/fr/documentation/articles/detail/contraste)
• The font chosen is not serifed (A rather than A) and has marked differences between similar characters (1/L/l/I/i/j).
• The font chosen is neither too light nor too heavy (A rather than A or A).
• The text size is at least 14 points.
• The font chosen was chosen to be suitable for a dyslexic audience.
• Capital letters retain their accents.
• Text is left aligned.
• Bold type is used to highlight certain elements, but sparingly.
• Emoticons are used at the end of sentences and only once.
• Video subtitles can be adapted by the user according to their needs (text size, language, etc.) and have been checked manually if they have been generated automatically.

Have you ticked all the boxes? Great, let’s move on to the advanced level: text-to-speech screen-reading tools.

• Are you up to date with the specifics of screen readers, the tools that allow you to transcribe what is displayed on the screen using voice synthesis and/or a Braille display. Do you use them in your texts?
• Text formatting is simple. It uses highlighting tools (bold, italics, capitals, emoticons) only for the most important information.
• Images containing practical information (e.g. dates, locations, prices, etc.) include an alternative text within their code so that it can be transcribed by the screen reader.
• The practical information is clearly identifiable.

Want to improve your skills or brush up on the basics? Watch the Passe Muraille training webinar, or take a look at the checklists made by Passe Muraille (FR) and Oranje vzw (NL)! The details make all the difference.

*Since 2014, Passemuraille has been developing its ‘Global access’ concept. The approach promotes the inclusion of all people, whatever the degree of their disability, with intersectional and positive consequences for the whole population. The three pillars of Global Access are: the technical dimension: access to buildings, roads, transport, workstations, etc. The behavioural dimension: reception and support in all institutions. The information and communication dimension: access to the website, folders, advertising, respect for published information and signage. https://www.passe-muraille.eu/methodologie/global-access/

© Photo : Jules Devoldere