Luxury Images on Instagram : Computational Analysis of Images Posted by Luxury Fashion Brands

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to explore what makes “good” luxury fashion images on Instagram and how Instagrammers respond to those images. A quantitative analysis of a large collection of fashion photos posted by notable luxury fashion brands was conducted to identify specific patterns in these images based on four important visual content variables: use of a brand name, brand logo, text, and hashtag. This study also examined how customer engagement levels vary depending on each visual content variable. Several interesting findings emerged from this study: (1) featuring a brand name was positively related to viewers’ engagement level in terms of the number of likes and comments, while the size of the brand name was negatively related to the number of likes; (2) featuring a brand logo was also positively related to viewers’ engagement level; and (3) the use of text and a hashtag was positively related to viewers’ engagement level, while sharing promotional information was likely to prompt a lower level of interaction.