Name: How to be inclusive: A quick guide for content creators
Uploaded: 2023-10-31T11:01:30.677Z
Duration: 468.33

Intentional Content v4.mp4

Intentional Content v4.vtt

English

{{00:00:00}}
Everything that we put out, every
word that we put out, every image

{{00:00:03}}
that we put out can either perpetuate
stereotypes or break them down.

{{00:00:19}}
I'm so pleased to see how much the
conversation around inclusivity

{{00:00:23}}
has grown in content marketing.

{{00:00:25}}
It is something that's incredibly
important for us to speak about.

{{00:00:30}}
Now, so many of us think,
oh, but we're marketers.

{{00:00:32}}
Like, what do we have,  have
to do with this conversation?

{{00:00:36}}
Everything that we put out, every
word that we put out, every image

{{00:00:39}}
that we put out can either perpetuate
stereotypes or break them down, right?

{{00:00:45}}
How often do you see...

{{00:00:47}}
Visuals where there's two same sex
couples,  as a family, or how often do

{{00:00:52}}
you see a plus size,  women apart from
the funny best friend in movies, right?

{{00:00:58}}
If your content keeps unconsciously,
accidentally, inadvertently reinforcing

{{00:01:03}}
those stereotypes, we're just
making people feel more invisible.

{{00:01:08}}
In content marketing, if we want to
break down inclusivity to make it much

{{00:01:12}}
more actionable, I think it just feels
like such a big dialogue that people

{{00:01:16}}
sometimes get stuck, but I try to break
it down into really like four key areas.

{{00:01:21}}
One, let's think about accessibility.

{{00:01:23}}
You want to ensure that everyone,
will not face barriers when trying

{{00:01:28}}
to access your communication.

{{00:01:30}}
Often, it's less about the ability itself
than the barrier that people might face

{{00:01:35}}
when trying to consume your content.

{{00:01:38}}
The second thing is the
actual words that we use.

{{00:01:41}}
Now, language is always evolving.

{{00:01:43}}
It is hard.

{{00:01:44}}
I'll be the first to raise my hand
and saying that, yes, we are going

{{00:01:48}}
to mess up, but what's supposed to...

{{00:01:49}}
What's really important is that
we pay attention to language and

{{00:01:53}}
terminology that communities have
chosen to use to represent themselves.

{{00:01:59}}
And that may not be how you
might want to speak about them.

{{00:02:02}}
So pay attention there.

{{00:02:04}}
Third is really visuals, right?

{{00:02:06}}
How the, the imagery, the even the
illustrations, even the avatars that

{{00:02:11}}
you use, how are they inclusive?

{{00:02:14}}
Are they representative
of the world as we see it?

{{00:02:17}}
Not in a performative or
sort of overly woke way.

{{00:02:20}}
And finally, the fourth one
is the area most people miss.

{{00:02:25}}
Which is content that's not
often thought about as content.

{{00:02:28}}
Let's say, for example, you have
built the most inclusive experience.

{{00:02:32}}
Everything,  flows,
people are so wowed in.

{{00:02:36}}
And then at the very end,
you have a little form.

{{00:02:39}}
And then you're asking people,
hey,  what's your gender?

{{00:02:41}}
Male or female?

{{00:02:42}}
And you're like, that's
not inclusive, right?

{{00:02:44}}
There's more.

{{00:02:45}}
Or you're asking people, hey,
choose your ethnicity or racial

{{00:02:49}}
background in the countries that
you're allowed to ask for this.

{{00:02:52}}
And usually people can only choose
one, and that's not true, like most

{{00:02:56}}
of us, especially Gen Z, is the most
racially diverse generation ever,

{{00:03:01}}
so why are we choosing, forcing
people to choose what aspect?

{{00:03:09}}
To start making content more accessible,
I would say there's a fantastic resource

{{00:03:13}}
that's consistently updated, that's from
the W3 accessibility guidelines, so I

{{00:03:19}}
always recommend marketers start there.

{{00:03:22}}
Why?

{{00:03:22}}
Because A, it's the law.

{{00:03:24}}
Your website does need to be accessible.

{{00:03:27}}
So start there, and then a couple of
areas that I recommend marketers pay

{{00:03:31}}
attention to are sometimes things
that we forget or take for granted.

{{00:03:37}}
For example, your font.

{{00:03:38}}
Not all fonts are accessible fonts.

{{00:03:41}}
For example, the serif fonts,  which
tend to be overly flowery or have these

{{00:03:46}}
additional accents tend to be really hard
for several people to, to actually read.

{{00:03:53}}
Sometimes the letters merge together.

{{00:03:55}}
I always joke, my name's Purna, and so
the R and the N in some fonts look like

{{00:03:59}}
an M, and so if I had a dollar, every time
somebody was like, hi, Puma, I'm like,

{{00:04:03}}
oh gosh, yeah, I could buy an island.

{{00:04:05}}
So,  typically what I recommend is use
sans serif fonts like Helvetica, Verdana,

{{00:04:12}}
those tend to be a much more accessible.

{{00:04:14}}
Another one is, are you looking for,
alternative or assisted devices, right?

{{00:04:20}}
Several people will sometimes
use a screen reader or assistive

{{00:04:23}}
technology to help consume content.

{{00:04:26}}
So are your, the hierarchy of
your headers in the right order?

{{00:04:30}}
Does it make sense?

{{00:04:31}}
Also, color usage,  If you were
just, color is the only way

{{00:04:36}}
that you're differentiating
between pieces of information.

{{00:04:40}}
That's not very inclusive because it
says people who may have colorblindness

{{00:04:45}}
or may have other visual conditions
may not be able to differentiate.

{{00:04:49}}
So make sure you're also using
symbols and logos as well as that.

{{00:04:52}}
Do your words work for everyone?

{{00:04:55}}
Try to use...

{{00:04:56}}
Simple, plain language.

{{00:04:57}}
If you're using an acronym,
put a little description that

{{00:04:59}}
provide clarity when you can.

{{00:05:01}}
And one big tip that I found
is to write at a sixth grade

{{00:05:06}}
reading level as much as possible.

{{00:05:08}}
What that does is it helps your
content be easily understood

{{00:05:12}}
by more and more people.

{{00:05:18}}
If you can, the most important thing you
can do is try to build a diverse group

{{00:05:24}}
of people to help check it for you.

{{00:05:26}}
Involve people from different communities.

{{00:05:29}}
A fabulous example is Cadbury's in the UK.

{{00:05:33}}
They created an ad for their chocolate
finger, the biscuit, and they had

{{00:05:37}}
a wonderful advert on TV where they
showed,   the life of a young girl and

{{00:05:43}}
she's signing and the ad deliberately
covers up part of the closed caption.

{{00:05:48}}
So if you don't speak British
Sign Language, you miss a

{{00:05:51}}
lot of what she's saying.

{{00:05:53}}
It so perfectly,  encapsulates the
lived experiences of people of the deaf

{{00:05:59}}
community and how they came up with
that  advert was they had a creator team

{{00:06:05}}
was all from the deaf community too.

{{00:06:08}}
So it really, really encapsulated, right?

{{00:06:10}}
Nothing for us without us.

{{00:06:12}}
If you can get multiple voices,
people from different departments,

{{00:06:16}}
people from different organizations,
different geographic areas, different

{{00:06:20}}
age groups, have them come together
and brainstorm and ideate, you'll get

{{00:06:24}}
much richer ideas because otherwise
you'll just tell the same stories

{{00:06:29}}
in the same way as everyone else.

{{00:06:31}}
And then it's just easy to get lost.

{{00:06:38}}
You know, for today, the data time and
time again has proved that for businesses,

{{00:06:42}}
if longevity is important to them, if they
want to stay in business for a long time.

{{00:06:47}}
Then they cannot afford
to ignore inclusion.

{{00:06:51}}
A, it's highly competitive.

{{00:06:53}}
You want every piece of content you
create to reach and drive impact

{{00:06:57}}
from as many people as possible.

{{00:06:59}}
But second, people are increasingly
voicing how they prefer to shop

{{00:07:04}}
with brands that show or put
in efforts to be inclusive.

{{00:07:09}}
You want to try to make sure
that you're including everyone.

{{00:07:13}}
You know, even if an ad is going out to...

{{00:07:17}}
That's not necessarily encompasses me or
something I personally believe in, but

{{00:07:21}}
if I can see it's being very inclusive,
I, I feel differently about that brand.

{{00:07:26}}
I would respect that.

{{00:07:27}}
And many others feel similarly to
this research from Sprout Social.

{{00:07:31}}
There's research from Media Post.

{{00:07:34}}
There's research from DPOP.

{{00:07:36}}
Every organization has put out strong
research on how valuable,  inclusion is.

Everything that we put out, every
word that we put out, every image

that we put out can either perpetuate
stereotypes or break them down.

I'm so pleased to see how much the
conversation around inclusivity

It is something that's incredibly
important for us to speak about.

Now, so many of us think,
oh, but we're marketers.

Like, what do we have,  have
to do with this conversation?

that we put out can either perpetuate
stereotypes or break them down, right?

Visuals where there's two same sex
couples,  as a family, or how often do

you see a plus size,  women apart from
the funny best friend in movies, right?

If your content keeps unconsciously,
accidentally, inadvertently reinforcing

those stereotypes, we're just
making people feel more invisible.

In content marketing, if we want to
break down inclusivity to make it much

more actionable, I think it just feels
like such a big dialogue that people

sometimes get stuck, but I try to break
it down into really like four key areas.

You want to ensure that everyone,
will not face barriers when trying

Often, it's less about the ability itself
than the barrier that people might face

The second thing is the
actual words that we use.

I'll be the first to raise my hand
and saying that, yes, we are going

What's really important is that
we pay attention to language and

terminology that communities have
chosen to use to represent themselves.

And that may not be how you
might want to speak about them.

How the, the imagery, the even the
illustrations, even the avatars that

Are they representative
of the world as we see it?

Not in a performative or
sort of overly woke way.

And finally, the fourth one
is the area most people miss.

Which is content that's not
often thought about as content.

Let's say, for example, you have
built the most inclusive experience.

Everything,  flows,
people are so wowed in.

And then at the very end,
you have a little form.

And then you're asking people,
hey,  what's your gender?

And you're like, that's
not inclusive, right?

Or you're asking people, hey,
choose your ethnicity or racial

background in the countries that
you're allowed to ask for this.

And usually people can only choose
one, and that's not true, like most

of us, especially Gen Z, is the most
racially diverse generation ever,

so why are we choosing, forcing
people to choose what aspect?

To start making content more accessible,
I would say there's a fantastic resource

that's consistently updated, that's from
the W3 accessibility guidelines, so I

So start there, and then a couple of
areas that I recommend marketers pay

attention to are sometimes things
that we forget or take for granted.

For example, the serif fonts,  which
tend to be overly flowery or have these

additional accents tend to be really hard
for several people to, to actually read.

I always joke, my name's Purna, and so
the R and the N in some fonts look like

an M, and so if I had a dollar, every time
somebody was like, hi, Puma, I'm like,

So,  typically what I recommend is use
sans serif fonts like Helvetica, Verdana,

Another one is, are you looking for,
alternative or assisted devices, right?

Several people will sometimes
use a screen reader or assistive

So are your, the hierarchy of
your headers in the right order?

Also, color usage,  If you were
just, color is the only way

that you're differentiating
between pieces of information.

That's not very inclusive because it
says people who may have colorblindness

or may have other visual conditions
may not be able to differentiate.

So make sure you're also using
symbols and logos as well as that.

If you're using an acronym,
put a little description that

And one big tip that I found
is to write at a sixth grade

What that does is it helps your
content be easily understood

If you can, the most important thing you
can do is try to build a diverse group

Involve people from different communities.

A fabulous example is Cadbury's in the UK.

They created an ad for their chocolate
finger, the biscuit, and they had

a wonderful advert on TV where they
showed,   the life of a young girl and

she's signing and the ad deliberately
covers up part of the closed caption.

So if you don't speak British
Sign Language, you miss a

It so perfectly,  encapsulates the
lived experiences of people of the deaf

community and how they came up with
that  advert was they had a creator team

So it really, really encapsulated, right?

Expert Insight

Content can either empower people, giving agency and fostering inclusion, or it can marginalise, shut people out and perpetuate stereotypes. Without conscious effort, we tend to stick with the status quo, which may not be the right path. 
Learn from Purna Virji, Author & Principal Consultant at LinkedIn about how to embed inclusion into the very heart of your content creation journey, and find out the benefits of real inclusivity in your marketing. 

Content Creation

Content Strategy

Content Marketing

Best practices

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xsmall_Purna-Virji_502516_1692039040.jpg

Purna-Virji_502516_1692039040.jpg

Purna Virji

 Author, High-Impact Content Marketing + Principal Consultant

Virji explains why accessibility, language, visuals and content are the four key areas to consider if you want to be more inclusive.

The four areas of inclusivity

Virji recommends refers to the W3 accessibility guidelines and provides practical advice to content creators on various aspects of content design

So how can we ensure accessibility?

Viriji guides the viewers on how to create more authentic and inclusive content.

How can I avoid messing up?

Virji presents compelling reasons for businesses to prioritise inclusion in their content marketing efforts.