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With its fast growing economy and huge population, China has become one of the most lucrative markets for luxury brands (Zhan and He 2012). In fact, China has surpassed Japan and become the No.1 luxury products spender in the world, accounting more than one-quarter of the global luxury brand expenditure (Artsmon et al. 2012). Chinese middle-class consumers thus have become important targets of luxury brands (Zhan and He 2012). However, China’s culture is different from Western cultures (Li, Li and Kambelle 2012), and Chinese luxury consumers have their distinctive characteristics (Buchwald, 2015). Therefore, Chinese luxury consumption may not follow the trends of Western world (Li, Li and Kambelle 2012). Previous studies have explored Chinese luxury consumers’ perceptions and receptivity of luxury brands in different cultural contexts (Bian and Forsythe 2012; Wang, Sun and Song 2011; Zhan and He 2012; Wang, Sun and Song 2011; Li, Li and Kanbelle 2012; Oswald 2010, Li and Su 2007; Wang and Ahuvia 1998). However, all those studies have only investigated luxury brands’ marketing strategies in traditional offline worlds. With the emergence of digital technology, luxury brands have started building presence in online world through different digital marketing strategies (Okonkwo 2009). Among all the digital marketing tools, social media marketing has become an increasingly important marketing communication weapon (Kim and Ko, 2012). While the luxury brands have widely accepted social media marketing, the academic research largely lags behind, Only limited number of studies have examined luxury brands’ social media marketing strategies (Tynan, McKechnie, and Chhoun, 2010; Kim and Ko, 2012). No study, to the authors’ knowledge, has been conducted to investigate luxury brands’ social media marketing strategies in connecting with Chinese consumers. In addition, previous studies on luxury brands marketing have conducted either quantitatively (Bian and Forsythe 2012; Wang, Sun and Song 2011; Zhan and He 2012; Wang, Sun and Song 2011; Li, Li and Kanbelle 2012) or qualitatively (Oswald 2010, Li and Su 2007; Wang and Ahuvia 1998) from either consumers’ or marketer’s perspective. In order to fill the research gaps, the current study is designed to explore the phenomenon with a mixed method by integrating both marketers’ social media marketing strategies and consumers’ interpretation of those marketers’ social media marketing in the contextof China. Specifically, a quantitative content analysis was conducted to examine marketers’ social media marketing strategies on a Chinese social media platform: WeChat; in the meanwhile, a qualitative study was conducted to explore Chinese female affluent consumers’ interpretations of those social media strategies transmitted via WeChat. Based on the research purpose, two overarching research questions were proposed: R1: Do Western luxury brand use social media platform of WeChat to build social presence, create self-presentation or interact with consumers? R2: What are Chinese female affluent consumers’ perceptions and interpretations of luxury brands’ social media marketing communication strategies via WeChat? Methodology The current study used a mixed methodological approach (Creswell 2014). Specifically, a quantitative content analysis (Krippendorff 2012) and a phenomenological study (Creswell 2012) were conducted to investigate luxury brands’ social media marketing communication strategies via WeChat and Chinese female affluent consumers’ perception toward those marketing communication strategies. Initial Findings Study 1 So far, 50% (N = 60) of the sample was analyzed. RQ1 asked about the luxury brands’ marketing communication strategies. The initial frequencies of each coded variable are reported in Table 1. Table 1. Frequencies of Coded Variables The results showed that more than half of the coded messages had images, showed products/brands in images or videos, provided event, discount and other promotional information, described products’ physical features and attributes, contained celebrities, sought action-based participation, and applied hyperlinks. The initial data suggest that a major use of social media in luxury brand advertising is to build the brand’s social presence by extensively using visuals. Images were found in 44 messages, and 25 of them used 6 or more images. Most of these images showed products or brands. Video also appeared in 14 messages. The initial results also suggest consumer interaction and engagement is restricted to the lowest level. The two major ways of interaction were hyperlinks and action-based participation. A close examination showed that these two were often used together. A hyperlink used anchor text that contained a call for action-based participation, like “read more,” “get the coupon,” etc. A lot of these actions related to consuming content, like reading, downloading or sharing, which is the lowest level of brand related-activeness on branded social media sites (Muntinga, Moorman, and Smit 2011).Additionally, product/brand information and physical features and attributes were frequently mentioned, suggesting that luxury brands use social media for information dissemination. WeChat has a large size of active users, and self-disclosure of information on social media can create a sense of close relationship (Kaplan and Haelein, 2010). High product quality, especially in terms of design and craftsmanship were frequently addressed, suggesting that that social media are used to communicate the nuances of brand’s social meanings. For example, some messages described the conceptualization of the design, the processing of handcrafting, and the meaning of the design, etc. These deeper meaning of a brand is often left out of traditional methods of advertising because of limited space or time. Celebrity was one of the major methods to create social meaning, suggesting that luxury brands use social media to leverage parasocial interaction between celebrities and consumers. Parasocial interaction refers to consumers’ perception of personal relationship with media personalities (Men and Tsai 2013). Among the sample messages, there were interviews with famous designers, advices and recommendations from celebrities about luxury brand and fashion, etc. These messages offer an opportunity for consumers to connect with celebrities, and subsequently, associate luxury brands with these iconic figures (McCraken, 1989). All in all, Western luxury brands largely use social media to build social presence, disseminate information, and communicate brand’s social meanings. Luxury brands frequently interact with audiences on social media but the level of consumer engagement is restricted. Study 2 The participants’ interpretations of WeChat provide a unique context and form a crucial referential framework for them to interpret luxury brands’ marketing communications on this particular social media platform. Specifically, the themes that emerged regarding those Chinese female affluent consumers’ perceptions of the social medium are an intimate friend vs. an everyday assistant, simple vs. complicated, and stickiness vs. interactivity; and, the themes regarding the participants’ interpretation of luxury brands’ marketing communications include inactive, conservative, and distance. Based on their own experiences of social media marketing and from consumers’ perspectives, the participants also provided insightful suggestions for luxury brands to improve their social media marketing to better connect with their consumers. Interpretation of WeChat An Intimate Friend vs. An Everyday Assistant According to the participants, their usage and composition of friends on WeChat has kept changing and evolving. At the initial stage of their usage, all the friends on WeChat were family members and close friends. At that time, WeChat constructed a small, closed, and intimate social circle for them to communicate, socialize, and entertain themselves and their WeChat friends in a carefree and relaxing way. In this sense, WeChat is like a good friend, who can accompany them and chat with them whenever they need him/her. Later, with the number of WeChat friends increasing and expanding, the composition of theirWeChat friends has also become complicated: different social relationships have been added to their WeChat friend list. Accordingly, based on the closeness and remoteness, they categorize their WeChat friends and communicate and socialize with them in a more cautious and delicate way. In this sense, WeChat has also changed to an office assistant who helps them to manage and maintain their social relationships. Simple vs. Complicated With the change of WeChat and the revolution of participants’ usage and experiences, in the life-worlds of the participants, WeChat has transformed from a simple chatting app to a multi-functional personal service hub. At the initial usage of stage, according to the participants, the major function of WeChat is a chatting app to communicate with their friends conveniently. Later, with more functions to be added to WeChat, WeChat has evolved to a complicated personal service hub to serve various personal and commercial purposes for the participants. Stickiness vs. Interactivity According to the participants, WeChat is a unique social media platform with high stickiness but low interactivity. The participants indicated that they use WeChat all the time, and they have to check their WeChat numerous times during a day. In other words, WeChat is considered as a high frequency social media app. In the meantime, the participants felt that WeChat is lacking interactivity when comparing to other social media platforms such as microblogging. They stated that the possible interactive activities on WeChat are very limited. In other words, in the life-world of the participants, WeChat is perceived as a less reciprocative social media platform. Interpretation of Luxury Brands’ Marketing Communication on WeChat Inactive According to the participants, the luxury brands’ WeChat public accounts are less active than other brands’ public accounts. Those luxury brands’ WeChat public accounts post information less frequently and seldom interact with followers. This is actually put those luxury brands in a relatively negative marketing position on WeChat. The participants indicated that they follow many public accounts. Because the luxury brands’ public accounts are not very active, without constant reminder, the followers may gradually forget about those luxury brands’ public accounts and stop checking their accounts’ updates. Conservative In addition to be seen as inactive, the luxury brands’ WeChat public accounts are also perceived to be conservative. According to the participants, compared to other brands, luxury brands’ WeChat public accounts are too serious, less interesting, and lacking entertainment. The participants felt that the luxury brands are very cautious and careful regarding their WeChat presence. Therefore, their WeChat posts are generally too conservative and formal, lacking creativity and uniqueness. As a result, the participants couldn’t remember any impressive and unforgettable post from those luxury brands’ WeChat public accounts.Distance In the participants’ eyes, the luxury brands are perceived to intentionally keep a certain distance from WeChat users. The participants felt that on the one hand the luxury brands are trying hard to connect with their consumers on social media, on the other hand, they are also trying to preserve their luxury brand image on this media platform by alienating general WeChat users. However, the participants felt it is not easy for luxury brands to achieve those two purposes successfully on WeChat. Suggestion of Luxury Brands’ Marketing Communication on WeChat Based on their perceptions and experiences of luxury brands’ social media marketing, the participants offered several insightful suggestions for luxury brands to improve their social marketing endeavors to better connect with their consumers. According to the participants, the most important marketing communication strategy via social media that luxury brands could adopt is to collaborate with opinion leaders (Katz and Lazarsfeld 1957) on social media to humanize, personalize, and entertainize their marketing communications. As the participants indicated, there are many successful and popular personal fashion public accounts on WeChat which have millions of loyal followers. Those personal fashion public accounts usually have unique styles and characteristics that are attractive to and well-liked by their followers. Compared to luxury brands’ official public accounts, those personal public accounts are perceived more humanized, personal, and closer to consumers. In addition, those accounts also have more flexibility to be creative and entertaining thus providing a better social media experience for luxury brands’ consumers. For luxury brands’ own public accounts on social media, the participants suggested that those luxury brands should become more active on social media by posting messages more frequently and constantly reminding consumers of their social presence. In addition, the participants think those luxury brands should be more adventurous on social media by being more creative and expressing more entertaining spirit.
