An Investigation of Social Media Usage, Brand Consciousness, and Purchase Intention towards Luxury Products among Millennials

According to a recent report on the values, attitudes, behaviors and demographic characteristics of the Millennial generation (Pew Research, 2010a), the Millennial generation refers “those born after 1980 –the first generation to come of age in the new Millennium (p.4).” Compared to previous American generations, Milliennials (ages 18-33) are more likely to use the Internet wirelessly. They remain more likely to actively engage in a wide range of communication and entertainment-related activities online, such as using social networking sites and instant messaging, listening to music, reading blogs, and playing games online (Pew Research, 2010b). Among the many online activities, using social media (SM hereafter) such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter has appeared to be most popular among Millennials. A recent report by eMarketer (2008) forecasts that global advertising expenditures on SM will reach $ 2.6 billion by 2012. Given their potential impact on branding, marketers and advertisers have employed SM as a tool to develop positive brand relationships with young consumers by promoting advertising messages on these sites.