A Systematic Review of Social Media Marketing in Luxury: Revealing Themes in Attributes, Segmentation, Content, and Influencers

Abstract

Research on social media marketing for luxury brands is crucial, as it enables market expansion into new geographic markets, emphasizes digital platforms, redefines luxury, and shifts the research focus from Western perspectives to others. This study reviews articles published from 2010 to 2024 in Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCO, applying defined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and analyzes 58 articles (n = 58). The research identifies four main themes: social media marketing drivers, consumer segmentation, content strategy, and influencer marketing. Social media marketing drivers encompass attributes such as entertainment, interactivity, trendiness, customization, and word of mouth, as well as perceptions of luxury brand values, particularly psychological distance. Consumer segmentation focuses on the psychological motivation behind consumer engagement with luxury brands on social media. Content strategy investigates the types of messages (text or visual) and their sources (firm- or user-generated). Influencer marketing examines influencer characteristics grounded in source credibility theory, as well as types such as robot, local, or disability influencers. These themes are explored through Western, Asian, general, and diverse perspectives, with research tailored to each. A proposed holistic conceptual research model is presented, offering insights for future studies informed by prior research on social media marketing for luxury brands.