Heritage Communication on Social Media in the Luxury Brand Market: The 4-H Factors Framework

While developments in digital luxury brand communication have led to several studies about the motivation of digital users to engage with luxury brands and the effect of online communication on consumers, few researchers have addressed the role of heritage within the digital environment. This chapter therefore responds to the call for research studies on how the unique characteristics of luxury brands are communicated in social media by analyzing specifically how luxury brands communicate their heritage on social media. The research results in a framework that categorizes online communication about the heritage of luxury brands according to four dimensions: The founder and his or her family, the link with the past, the processing techniques of the past, and the people who made the brand famous.