Post copy is the text that accompanies a post on any social media platform. Also referred to as post caption, written caption or post text.
What to consider when writing post captions:
- Use plain language. This will help make sure you're not excluding portions of your audience by using language that is difficult to understand.
- Do not overuse all caps. Using ALL CAPS can be difficult to read or misinterpreted by assistive technology.
- Use CamelCase hashtags. By capitalizing the first letter of each word in a hashtag, the hashtag is easier to read. For example, #UCDavisGrown is more readable to the eye and to assistive technology than #ucdavisgrown.
- Limit emoji use. Do not lead with or use too many emojis because it takes away from the meaning of your message when read by assistive technology. For example, when “🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮” is used, an assistive technology user receives, “Cow Face Emoji, Cow Face Emoji, Cow Face Emoji, Cow Face Emoji, Cow Face Emoji, Cow Face Emoji, Cow Face Emoji.”
- Avoid special Unicode fonts. Despite looking cool, Unicode fonts and glyphs are poorly read by assistive technology.
- Shorten your URLs. URLs are read character-by-character by site readers, so make them short and customize them when possible.
- Avoid acronyms, abbreviations, and lingo unless you’ve explained what these stand for earlier in your post. Assistive technology may not read your acronyms properly, leading to misunderstanding, and acronyms can confuse folks unfamiliar with your content.
- Add image and/or video descriptions in the post caption. Check out the best practices for image and video descriptions below.