Examining the role of luxury elements on social media engagement

ABSTRACT This research aims to examine the effect of conspicuousness, uniqueness, quality, hedonism, and extended self on social media engagement. This research applies a quantitative, observational method to investigate how luxury brands portray luxury dimensions in their social media marketing and whether such portrayals impact consumers’ engagement. We analysed a total of 1223 social media posts on Facebook and Instagram (July 2017 to July 2018) from four major luxury fashion brands (Chanel, Dior, Bottega Veneta, and Burberry). The results indicated that only conspicuousness significantly enhanced consumers’ engagement, while other dimensions did not. The current findings suggest that the idea of luxury has begun to shift toward a different meaning. Thus, traditional luxury dimensions may not work in the social media context, providing significant managerial insights into the creation and management of luxury social media marketing. The current study is the first to examine how the portrayal of luxury dimensions affect social media engagement. The findings provide significant insights into the use of social media marketing by luxury brands, namely how they promote and portrayal their luxuriousness on social media platforms.