Social Media and Consumer Behaviour Towards Luxury Brands

Abstract

In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in social media (SM). SM has ushered a new era of communication between organizations and key stakeholders and has forced brands to change dramatically the way they interact with their target markets. Luxury brand marketers have recently turned their attention to customer-driven SM devoted to their brands recognizing the role SM plays in their marketing strategies. Key consumer behavior concepts such as motivation, interaction, and SM provide the theoretical foundation. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the relationship between SM and consumer behavior towards luxury brands. Empirical data was collected from 110 Cypriot SM users who look for information on SM about luxury brands. The aim was to explore whether SM influences consumer behavior of both male and female Cypriot consumers and whether there are any distinct behavioral differences between the two genders. This study provides recommendations to luxury brands to understand the nature of consumer behavior and brand-customer relationship in using SM.