This is the fifth installment of a series on Instagram aesthetic trends for 2020. Here are the links to the previous posts in this series:
- #1 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers: Treat Your Grid Like Your Homepage
- #3 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers: Curated User Generated Content
- #4 Instagram Aesthetic Trend for School Marketers: Focus on Authenticity
Inclusivity starts from within your school, but it should also be celebrated on your social media feeds, including your Instagram feed. Inclusive posts and graphics should be a priority; even Google ranks accessible web pages higher in search results.
Diversity and inclusivity support the understanding that everyone is different, but we’re still connected and more alike than we may realize. Demonstrating inclusion is an opportunity to find commonalities with people from different backgrounds. It’s a chance to share experiences and even solve problems in new ways.
How can school marketers achieve this? On social media, it’s through sharing one’s experience of an action that’s taking place, an image that evokes different responses, or a hashtag that provokes an array of thought.
We live in a time when most of us have a powerful digital tool in our pockets – our smartphone. Millennials have grown up constantly connected and have embraced technology. Social media has opened us up to experiences that couldn’t be accessed in the same way in years past.
If there’s one thing the Internet does is to connect a large and endlessly diverse array of people.
School marketers need to create accessible content and become advocates for inclusivity. After all, we want as many people as possible to like – and trust – our social media presence – right?
Inclusive design aims to deliver an amazing user experience to as many people as possible. In practice, that means you need to begin to think outside the box and abandon “one-size-fits-all” solutions.
Instead, think about demonstrating a range of diversity by creating a variety of ways for people to engage. Diversity includes, but is not limited to:
- Ability
- Language
- Gender
- Age
- Various family constellations
- And other factors
An example of inclusive marketing is Microsoft’s campaign “Solve for one, extend to many.” This campaign aims to solve problems for the most “edge” cases (most extreme or rare needs). Closed captions illustrate this point. Not only to captions assist people with hearing impairments, but they also help language learners and enhance viewing in low or no-should environments.
Why Accessibility Matters for Instagram
An Instagram strategy without inclusivity will miss out on connecting with a larger audience. According to a Facebook survey, 30 percent of people report “difficulty in at least one of these areas: seeing, hearing, speaking, organizing thoughts, walking or grasping with their hands.” That’s a large group of people!
Worse still, non-inclusive content will push people away. Most of them (71 percent) will just leave and won’t come back.
Tips for Inclusive Instagram Posts
Your school’s social media identity is determined by equal parts content and commentary. Prospective parents generally do their research first so visual impressions are key to conveying your message. Welcoming and including a diverse population regardless of race, size, or orientation will show complete authenticity in value and mission when done correctly.
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Be genuine
Inclusivity isn’t only about a variety of Instagram images, and it can’t be forced. The eagerness to enroll a variety of families equally must be a true value your school possesses.
Being equality-minded often goes hand-in-hand with transparency, and your marketing messages should reflect your true intentions. Be consistent in promoting your school and do your research when it comes to the type of language you use, including how you address potential families.
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Avoid tokenism
Tokenism is marketing to specialty sub-groups without being genuine and using a limited number of images trying to portray a certain population. If you only add images of different types of families/students in order to tap into more enrollments and not because you truly believe in spotlighting diversity, it will show.
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Avoid appropriation
Taking ownership of traits from a minority culture as your own is considered appropriation and it will subsequently drive potential parents away. Instead, practice the art of listening. Ask questions to help you learn as much about each unique student as you can, a good habit to put into practice in all facets of life. Serve the student, not the stereotype.
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Be mindful of trends
While you don’t want to pigeon-hole people, you should actively stay informed about trends that might help potential parents make choices or personalize their enrollment journey and promote this through visual content via your social media. Think about how you can help people feel like they “belong” at your school.
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Be precise with your words
Language matters. Language shows not only how we perceive the world, but how we move through it. What we say, and more specifically, how we say it, matter. The language we use can signal to others that they belong; by using the right words you are intentionally inviting diverse people to your school.
Being explicit with your words means opening the way for deep and meaningful connections and ultimately creating community. Avoid being vague, cliché, and frankly, lazy with your language. When you are ambiguous and obscure with your language you run the risk of diminishing the richness of people and turn them instead into flat stereotypes. And no one wants to be a stereotype.
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Be thoughtful about representation
There are many barriers to inclusion. A basic marketing principle is to create content their audience can see themselves in, but too often schools over-represent white, straight, able-bodied families, teachers, students, and others in their imagery. Not only does this miss the mark, but it marginalizes those who don’t fit that description.
Consider role assignment and portrayal as well. Before posting any image to social media, make sure it’s not promoting racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, or other stereotypes.
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Avoid common traps
Before hitting publish on your next blog or Instagram post, be sure you’re not falling into common traps that end up silencing voices or experiences.
Avoid:
- Generalizing places and disregarding a multitude of cultures, ethnicities, and experiences that may exist
- Romanticizing a colonial past that violently oppressed groups of people
- Using words like “unexplored”, “undiscovered” or “untouched” which, in essence, erases the rich histories of indigenous groups
- Projecting your interpretation of other cultures
- Using patronizing words and phrases
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Consider the needs of people with physical challenges
In order to be accessible on social media, make sure you recognize the need for exclusion, listen to your followers, and present clear and understandable information.
Remember to:
- Make text as readable as possible
- Provide descriptive captions for images
- Include captions in videos
- Add a descriptive transcript for videos
- Use a color contrast for those who are colorblind
- Don’t rely on color for meaning
- Learn about accessibility features of social media sites (Facebook’s Accessibility Page).
Read more: How to Make Your School Website ADA Compliant
The key to authentically promoting inclusivity through our visual social media, including Instagram, is to be genuine and knowledgeable. Parents of all types will recognize your effort and reward you by wanting to learn more about and, hopefully, eventually, enroll in your school.
How are you making your social media feeds inclusive? What barriers to inclusivity have you experienced? Please share your experiences with the rest of the school marketing community below…
