5 Tips for Authentically Inclusive Social Media Marketing

If you’re a social media marketer, you likely already know that you need to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into your long-term social strategy. Showcasing an authentic commitment to DEI on your social channels can help build trust with your customers, clients, and followers. Inclusive social media practices also contribute to building a strong brand reputation, attracting and retaining top talent, and in turn, increasing revenue.

But how to do that in a convincing, authentic way? A good place to begin is with these five tips for developing a long-term strategy for DEI on social media.

1) Determine how your brand fits into the conversation.

As you develop your strategy, it’s important to decide where in the conversation about DEI it makes sense for your organization to weigh in. Ask yourself (and your team):

• What questions might our audience have that we could provide valuable insight on?
• How can my brand be there for those in our community who are looking for support and resources?

For example, if you manage social media for a digital marketing agency, it may make sense to post content about best practices for digital accessibility. You might also post inclusive marketing tips that your agency recommends to clients. 

2) Make it more than a message; take meaningful action. 

 Before you publicly announce your commitment to inclusion, it’s crucial to first demonstrate that commitment internally. Perhaps your organization is conducting a pay equity audit; Equal Pay Day offers a great opportunity to highlight that positive action. Or maybe your company has created new employee resource groups. Share that with your audience on social media. 

3) Amplify diverse voices and perspectives.

Look within your organization, your clients, your partners, and your network for diverse voices and perspectives you can amplify on social media. For example, if your organization has a supplier diversity program, consider highlighting one of those diverse partners each month. You’ll show your commitment to DEI, while amplifying their brand and message. You could also ask employees to volunteer to share their experiences and stories for different diversity holidays throughout the year. In addition, consider what user-generated content you’re sharing. Is it representative of your audience?

4) Create inclusive social media content.

• Add alt text to all image content so it’s accessible to those with visual impairments.
• Upload or generate video captions to all video content.
• Use camel case, the practice of capitalizing compound words in a hashtag. This is important for accessibility because screen readers cannot correctly read hashtags that aren’t written in camel case. 
• Ensure you’re using adequate color contrast in your designed graphics so your content is accessible to people who are color blind. WebAIM provides a great free resource for checking color contrast against accessibility standards.
• Use inclusive language so you don’t unintentionally offend or alienate followers.
• Use images, photos, and illustrations that reflect the diversity of your audience. 

5) Partner with others to bring in diverse perspectives.

Ensure diverse perspectives are part of the creative process from start to finish. Even if your marketing team is homogeneous, find ways to bring diverse perspectives to the table.

• Ask culturally diverse employees from other departments to participate in marketing brainstorms and have them review mockups of your social media posts. 
• Bring in an outside review team to audit for blunders or insensitivities in your social content.
• Use culturally diverse focus groups to ensure your messaging resonates.

To get more information on inclusive marketing best practices and advice from marketing experts, listen to our recent webinar, Inclusive Marketing Strategies for Lasting Success, or check out our Best Practices Guide to Inclusive Marketing.