3 Ways Businesses Can Ensure Their Video Content Is Accessible To The Special Needs Market
In a recent survey by Animoto, 93 percent of businesses acquired a new consumer using video content posted on their social media, showing just how much of an influence video content is having on consumer purchasing behavior this year. However, while many businesses are joining the video content bandwagon, many of them are missing out on a key segment of the market – the special needs community. With over 61 million Americans living with a disability, ensuring your video content is accessible to consumers of all abilities could enable you to tap into a key consumer market – and maximize your marketing reach in the process.
Why Businesses Need To Make Their Video Content More Accessible
According to an American Institute For Research report, the total disposable income for the disabled population is over $500 million – higher than the purchasing power of the African and Hispanic markets combined. Spending a few minutes making videos more accessible helps businesses tap into an often overlooked consumer market and boosts video content engagement. The power of video content is unquestionable, but without adapting video content for all consumers, businesses risk hindering the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. On the plus side, thanks to a growing range of easy-to-use accessibility tools like mobile dictation apps and audio transcription software, anyone can make visual clips understandable to all users and satisfy the W3C’s audio-visual content guidelines.
Add Captions To Your Video
An easy way to improve the accessibility of your video content is to add captions or subtitles to your videos. While this addition is primarily aimed at deaf or hard of hearing consumers, not everyone that uses video subtitles falls into that category. For instance, in an Ofcom study, 18 percent of consumers used closed captions, but a mere 21 percent of them were deaf or hard of hearing.
When creating captioned videos, stick to a few ground rules. First, think of readability. This means considering the font, background and size of the text you choose for your captions. Also, businesses should aim for a great contrast between their videos and captions so that visually impaired consumers are not straining their eyes to read them. Finally, you want to think about the accuracy of the translation and its universality. Video content is not just being seen on television screens anymore, and adjusting your content for the growing mobile market helps you get ahead of the game. In regards to the tools you can use to add captions to your video content, most video platforms like YouTube now provide a free transcription tool. However, for added accuracy, you can use Android captions software applications like Autocap or Brivvo (for iOS users).
Include Audio Transcripts In Your Video Content
Did you know that adding a transcript to your video content makes it more shareable? To add an audio transcript to your video content, you can rely on the use of transcription software that allows audio playback, such as Express Scribe by NCH Software, or The FTW Transcriber. Alternatively, you can use automatic transcriber software like voice recognition software and automatic captioning features on video platforms.
Use A PhotoSensitive Epilepsy Tool To Avoid Flashing Content
Finally, businesses should avoid flashing content, or remember to place an appropriately positioned warning for flashing images in their video content. Approximately one in 100 people have photosensitive epilepsy – that’s 3 percent of the population. For them, seizures can be triggered by flashing images or high contrast backgrounds. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) accessibility guidelines recommend that web content does not contain anything that flashes more than three times in a one second period and allowing users to set the flashing rate. The photosensitive epilepsy analysis tool from the Trace Center is a great way to identify any triggering images in your video content.
Creating video content with accessibility in mind ensures your business has the best chances of appealing to a wider audience. Simple changes can show your special needs consumers that you are thinking of them, and may be the move that converts those leads into sales.
