Conclusion

The intercoder reliability of this project was fairly strong at 85%. The two coders for this study used the same codebook and the secondary coder coded 15% of the total 200 posts. Coders used the same definitions and code form. Although this study relied on strong data to answer the research questions, there were several limitations to this study. Firstly, the concept categories that were used for coding the posts could have included stronger operational definitions so that there was a greater chance of higher intercoder reliability in the study. Future research can use stronger coding categories with clearer definitions. Secondly, the classification for concept categories such as tone of caption and facial expression may be considered subjective since they are based on visuals which can also lead to a low percentage of intercoder reliability. Future research can improve the internal validity by including specific words people coders can use to determine the accuracy of these concept categories. 

A limitation that has to do with the external validity of this study is the sample size of content analyzed was small in comparison to the total number of Instagram posts from the three types of accounts showcasing luxury fashion products. The sample size of 200 luxury fashion Instagram posts can be increased in further research in order to determine if looking at more posts leads to a stronger amount of marketing tactics diversity. Another limitation that has to do with external validity is that this study focused only on studying the official luxury brand accounts of the top 5 luxury brands when there are hundreds of luxury brands in existence. Further research can look into more luxury brand accounts and also see if they use marketing  tactics that do not exist in this study’s codebook. Another limitation is that the Instagram posts were chosen at random which means that the particular posts chosen could have had less marketing tactics diversity in comparison to other Instagram posts. In further research, scholars can use stricter and more condensed criteria to choose Instagram posts in a non-random manner.

With these limitations in mind, further research can be done by scholars to determine the difference in marketing tactics for luxury fashion products through Instagram posts. Further research on the difference in marketing tactics can help to discover more marketing strategies  that influencers and brand accounts use. With the rise in social media, it is important that further research studies how it works in the luxury fashion industry.