Key Findings 

     Research Questions 

RQ1:  Is there a difference in how luxury fashion products are marketed on Instagram by official brand accounts as opposed to sponsored  influencer accounts?

  RQ2:  Is there a difference in the way luxury fashion products are marketed on Instagram by sponsored influencers vs. non-sponsored influencers?  

TABLE ONE: THE TONE OF THE CAPTION

                                                                                   TABLE  TWO: HASHTAG USAGE 

As seen in Table 2, this cross-tabulation analysis shows that 65.67% (n=44) of official luxury brand accounts use the hashtag with the brand name included in conjunction with a hashtag that mentions the collection or product name. Sponsored influencers also use these two hashtags in conjunction, however, they use it at a lower frequency than official brand accounts since only 31.34% (n=21) of the posts showed this particular hashtag usage. The data highlights that every post analyzed by official luxury accounts uses a hashtag since 0% (n=0) of the coded samples for official brand accounts were under the no hashtag category. This was the opposite truth for sponsored influencers since in the no hashtag category, 64.58% (n=62) of the posts represented this evaluation. 

                   Table 2: The Difference in Hashtag Usage Between Official Brand Accounts and Sponsored Influencer Accounts 

        TABLE THREE: ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT

Table 3 below represents a cross-tabulation of the engagement that was encouraged to viewers on the coded sample posts between luxury official brand accounts and sponsored influencers. According to the data analyzed, 90.63% (n=29) of the official luxury brand account posts encouraged their followers to go to their website from the post, which accounted for most of the sample. Sponsored influencers were more likely to not encourage the audience since 57.74% (n=97) of the sample posts fell under the category of no encouragement.

Table 3: The Difference in Encouraging Engagement Usage Between Official Brand Accounts and Sponsored Influencer Accounts 

        TABLE FOUR: PRODUCTION PROCESS

Typically, luxury fashion brands will want to highlight the artist of the collection or a runway show for the collection. In the 50 posts analyzed from official brand accounts, 72% (n=18) mentioned or showed the artist of a given collection. Sponsored influencers still featured artists but at a lower rate of 28% (n=7). Runway shows often capture how the luxury fashion collection works within the industry, and this is seen in 85.71% (n=6) of the official brand luxury accounts that were coded for. 14.29% (n=1) of sponsored influencers showed a picture of the collection on a runway show. 

Table 4: The Difference in Production Process Mention Between Official Brand Accounts and Sponsored Influencer Accounts 

          TABLE FIVE: THE TONE OF THE CAPTION

According to the cross-tabulation analysis of the tone of captions between the samples of sponsored influencer accounts promoting luxury fashion accounts and non-sponsored influencer accounts, both influencers typically use emotional-toned captions. For sponsored influencers, 47.83% ( n=22) of their samples used an emotional tone. For non-sponsored influencers, 45.65% (n=21) of their tones were emotional. Sponsored influencers mostly used neutral tones as can be seen by 68.18% (n=45) of the sample posts being coded as neutral. Non-sponsored influencers also relied heavily on neutral captions as 30.30% (n=20) of their captions were coded as being neutral. 

        Table 5: The Difference in Tone of the Captions Between Sponsored Influencer Accounts and Non-Sponsored Influencer Accounts 

          TABLE SIX: ANECDOTAL TESTIMONY 

Influencers oftentimes will use anecdotal testimonies in their posts to build a relationship with their audience. This cross-tab analysis evaluates the approach sponsored and non-sponsored influencers took regarding personal stories in the posts regarding luxury fashion products. Sponsored influencers used personal anecdotes in 62.37% (n=58) of the coded samples, whereas non-sponsored influencers used personal anecdotes  33.33% (n=31). Neither of the types of influencers used second-hand anecdotes in their posts. Posting without anecdotal testimony was common as well as 40.78% (n=42) of sample posts by sponsored influencers were under the category of no anecdotal testimony. 

Table 6: The Difference in the Usage of Anecdotal Testimony Between Sponsored Influencer Accounts and Non-Sponsored Influencer Accounts 

          TABLE SEVEN: PRODUCT/BRAND LINKAGE 

Oftentimes, sponsored influencers will be obligated to tag a brand they are working with which is why 75% (n=78) of their sample posts showed that they tagged the luxury brand that sponsored them. As seen in Table 7, both sponsored and non-sponsored influencers did not put any links to view the collection in their posts. One-fourth of the non-sponsored influencer posts relied on tagging the luxury brand accounts. The two most used tactics for product/brand linkage between both types of influencers were not linking to a website or collection, and tagging the brand. 

Table 7: The Difference in the Usage of Product/Brand Linkage  Between Sponsored  InfluencerAccounts and Non-Sponsored Influencer Accounts 

          TABLE EIGHT: HASHTAG USAGE

The sample posts that were analyzed, highlight that 64.58% (n=62) of the sponsored influencer posts did not use a hashtag. Similarly, 68% (n=34) of non-sponsored influencer posts also did not use any hashtag. Sponsored influencers commonly used hashtags with the brand name included in conjunction with the collection name or product since 31.34% (n=21) of the posts were under this category. 

         Table 8: The Difference in Hashtag Usage Between  Sponsored Influencer Accounts and Non-sponsored Influencer Accounts 

                                                Research Question One 

DisResearch question one asks if there's a difference in how luxury fashion products are marketed on Instagram by official brand accounts as opposed to sponsored influencer accounts. The data shown above highlights that luxury brand accounts make sure that their posts are promotional, and they typically link the website in the post making it easier for consumers to interact with the brand. As shown in Table 2, luxury brand accounts almost always include a hashtag with the brand name with another hashtag with the name of the collection included. Past research by Daft & Lengel (1986) claims a message is most effective when placed in the right medium. Using effective hashtags makes it more likely that the content is seen. Sponsored influencers tell the story of a  brand according to Kadekova & Holiencinova (2018), which is why it is logical that the data in table one shows that sponsored influencers use an emotional tone more often in their captions compared to official brand accounts. 

Hypothesis one stated that there is a difference in how luxury fashion products are marketed on Instagram by official brand accounts as opposed to sponsored influencers. The evaluation of the results highlights that H1 is supported since there was a distinction in the frequency and usage of marketing tactics used by official luxury brand accounts and sponsored influencer accounts. According to the data, official luxury brand accounts are more likely to promote fashion products with an informative and promotional tone, whereas sponsored influencers are more likely to use an emotional tone in their posts promoting luxury fashion. The study conducted by Straker & Wrigley (2016), supports the idea that was seen in the sponsored influencer posts because they claim luxury fashion marketing approaches are typically emotional. The official luxury brand accounts are also more likely to showcase the production process of the product in their Instagram posts compared to the sponsored influencers. This can be attributed to the idea proposed in “Top Social Media Marketing Strategies for Luxury Brands” (2022) that luxury brands must know how to promote the heritage and quality of their products. 

                                     Research Question Two

Research question two asks if there's a difference in how luxury fashion products are marketed on Instagram by sponsored influencer accounts versus non-sponsored influencers. The data highlights that sponsored influencers are more likely to use promotional marketing tactics on Instagram compared to non-sponsored influencers which make sense since they are paid to post the products. Non-sponsored influencers choose to post luxury fashion products because they want to rather than out of obligation which makes sense why their posts had a lower percentage of anecdotal testimonies and product and brand linkage. 

Hypothesis two states that there is a difference in how sponsored influencers market luxury fashion products on Instagram versus non-sponsored influencers. The results highlight that H2 for this study is supported because posts by sponsored influencers relied on higher usage of personal anecdotes, hashtags, and brand linkage. Sponsored influencers are likely to have a higher percentage of marketing tactics on their Instagram posts because their posts are monitored by the brands given that they are paid. Non-sponsored influencers have more freedom to be expressive in their posts given that they are not affiliated directly with the brand. This concept can be seen through the difference in product and brand linkage usage by the two types of influencers. Sponsored influencers tagged the brand in 75% of the coded sample posts which is more than double the number of non-sponsored influencer posts. This can be attributed to the concept that luxury brands often require sponsored influencers to tag them.