Luxury brands on instagram: insights on the Lebanese female consumer market

Abstract

Many studies have been conducted on social media’s role and especially the role of Instagram in increasing sales and in yielding positive results for luxury brands, but none of these studies was conducted on Lebanese women. Using the framing theory and the perception theory, this paper explores how important is the presence of luxury brands on Instagram for Lebanese females aged between 15 and 35. A survey was distributed to a sample of 335 females aged between 15 and 35 using different variables to measure how these females perceive data and different content from luxury brands on Instagram. An interview was conducted with four different luxury brands in Lebanon (Zuhair Murad, Elie Saab, Aishti, and Chalhoub group) for understanding how these brands frame their content on Instagram, what they provide online, and what they focus on the most. Results showed that luxury brands frame data on Instagram by choosing what to provide online through highlighting the positive aspects of their brands and neglecting the “not so positive” ones. Luxury brands specify when to post their products online, how to present them through stories, photos, or videos, and how to relate their specific products to the culture and to the needs of their audiences, and in this paper how to relate data to the needs of the Lebanese females aged between 15 and 35. Moreover results from the survey showed that the presence of luxury brands on Instagram is effective and encourages Lebanese females to stay updated, to get informed, and to create feelings with the brands, which leads to an increase sales and yields successful results.