How long have you been using social media? And how long have you been using it for your brand or business? Probably a good while. Long enough to have developed a trained eye, an intuition for what works and what doesn’t.
Now let’s think about the material posted on your brand’s social media: do you design it yourself, or is it something you delegate? Whatever your answer, the final call is still yours. You’re the one who decides whether that content gets published or not. That post went through your eyes before it went out into the world.
Here’s something I see every day, and I hope it’s not your case: your posts don’t get read.
I’m not talking about content that fails to “stop the scroll” because of its topic. I’m not talking about anything looking amateur. The problem I’m describing sometimes shows up in the most carefully made content, the kind that took the most design time. Coherent palette, brand typography, clean grid, flawless visual identity. Aesthetically, a round of applause.
And yet the text is so small that in the feed it looks like a gray line. Or the text is a decent size, but it’s white on an off-white background, for example. So that text ends up being just another texture, and it goes unnoticed.
Here’s the real problem: not everyone stops to read the copy underneath the post. Many people consume content through the image alone. If the message you wanted to convey lives only in that image, and that image can’t be read without leaning in toward the screen, that content didn’t do its job. It doesn’t matter how much time you spent on the design. It doesn’t matter if it’s “on brand.” If it’s not readable, it doesn’t communicate. And if it doesn’t communicate, what was it made for?
I often emphasize visual consistency: sticking to fonts, colors, graphic elements that repeat post after post. That’s what makes your brand recognizable. It’s a real investment, and it’s worth maintaining.
But there’s a trap many brands fall into: they confuse consistency with rigidity. “This is my brand’s typeface, so it goes at this size across every format.” “I always use this color palette, even when the contrast with the text is low.” Visual identity is a system of rules, and chances are you have an option within it that fits your needs better. If that’s not the case, it might be worth considering revising it.
Because you already put in the work of planning content. You already thought through a strategy, a calendar, a message. You have something to say. So shouldn’t it be readable?
Maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t get around this question: what’s the point of saying something if no one’s going to notice what you’re saying?
What to do about it
In these cases, legibility is the priority. It’s not “one more design detail” — it’s the condition that makes the rest of the work worth anything. A few concrete ideas:
- Use legible fonts.
- Stick to a minimum size.
- Don’t get swept up in what other accounts are doing.
- If the text doesn’t fit, rework it.
- Prioritize content over form.
Every time I run into this — whether it’s an account I’m about to advise, or simply me scrolling — I think the same thing: so much work goes into saying something well, and so little into making sure it can actually be read. The most basic function of a post gets neglected: communicating.
So next time you’re about to post something, ask yourself one simple question before approving it: if someone looks at this for two seconds, without leaning into the screen, can they read what it says?
If the answer is no, it’s not ready yet.
