Visual strategies of luxury and fast fashion brands on Instagram and their effects on user engagement

Abstract

This study aims to examine what makes the image content of fashion brands successful on Instagram, while comparing between luxury and fast fashion brands. A quantitative analysis of a massive collection of fashion photos posted by notable luxury and fast fashion brands was therefore conducted to identify specific patterns in these images based on four important visual content variables: the use of a brand name, brand logo, text, and hashtag. This study also examined how user engagement levels vary depending on each visual content variable. This study made several interesting findings: (1) luxury brand images with logos and brand names had higher user engagement whereas fast fashion brand images did not show this same trend; (2) the size of the brand name and logo in an image was negatively related to the user engagement or had no effect, regardless of the brand category; and (3) the use of embedded text within an image positively influenced user engagement for luxury brands whereas it negatively influenced user engagement for fast fashion brands.