Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Study
BackgroundSocial media has become a vital platform for hospitals to engage with the public, disseminate health knowledge, and build trust. While promotional strategies have shown potential to enhance social media influence, the mechanisms through which these strategies impact...
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JMIR Publications
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e70676 |
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| author | Xinyun Zhong Yiyuan Ma Haiyue Yu |
| author_facet | Xinyun Zhong Yiyuan Ma Haiyue Yu |
| author_sort | Xinyun Zhong |
| collection | DOAJ |
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BackgroundSocial media has become a vital platform for hospitals to engage with the public, disseminate health knowledge, and build trust. While promotional strategies have shown potential to enhance social media influence, the mechanisms through which these strategies impact hospital influence on social media remain unclear. Furthermore, the effectiveness of these strategies may vary across hospitals of different types and regions, necessitating a deeper understanding of their contextual applicability.
ObjectiveOn the basis of an integrated theoretical framework that combines multidisciplinary perspectives from communication, marketing, and organizational management, this study aimed to investigate the effects of 3 dimension-based promotional strategies (activity, interactivity, and entertainment value) on 4 dimensions of hospital social media influence (audience reach, audience approval, audience interaction, and dissemination power). It also sought to explore variations in the effectiveness of these strategies across hospitals of different types and regions.
MethodsData were collected from 721 officially verified hospital Weibo accounts and integrated with multidimensional hospital characteristics from the DXY National Hospital Database. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between promotional strategies and social media influence while controlling for hospital-specific characteristics. Heterogeneity analysis was conducted by incorporating interaction terms between promotional strategies and categorical dummy variables (used to group hospitals based on their characteristics) into the regression model. In addition, robustness checks were implemented to validate the stability of the main findings.
ResultsThe promotional strategies of activity and interactivity demonstrated significant and consistent positive effects across all dimensions of social media influence. Specifically, a 10% increase in the number of Weibo posts (activity) was associated with a 4.8% increase in followers (P<.001), a 4.4% increase in maximum likes (P<.001), a 3.1% increase in maximum comments (P<.001), and a 4.9% increase in maximum shares (P<.001). Similarly, a 10% increase in the number of accounts followed by hospitals (interactivity) corresponded to a 4.5% increase in followers (P<.001), a 2.4% increase in maximum likes (P=.002), a 2.4% increase in maximum comments (P<.001), and a 3.1% increase in maximum shares (P<.001), whereas entertainment value had a more limited impact, significantly enhancing audience reach and approval in specific contexts. The heterogeneity analysis indicated that hospital ownership (public vs private), size, ranking, and regional location were key factors influencing the effectiveness of social media promotional strategies.
ConclusionsThis study provides empirical evidence on how promotional strategies influence hospital social media performance and underscores the importance of tailoring strategies based on hospital type and regional characteristics. The findings emphasize that hospitals should strategically choose communication approaches that align with their unique characteristics. By tailoring promotional strategies to their specific attributes and regional contexts, hospitals can effectively enhance their social media influence, foster stronger public trust, and promote sustainable digital transformation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0c1d4a56a4a34c2793c5589250b3e40f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-0c1d4a56a4a34c2793c5589250b3e40f2025-08-22T14:30:34ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712025-08-0127e7067610.2196/70676Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional StudyXinyun Zhonghttps://orcid.org/0009-0002-5564-6397Yiyuan Mahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7889-7282Haiyue Yuhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5503-9867 BackgroundSocial media has become a vital platform for hospitals to engage with the public, disseminate health knowledge, and build trust. While promotional strategies have shown potential to enhance social media influence, the mechanisms through which these strategies impact hospital influence on social media remain unclear. Furthermore, the effectiveness of these strategies may vary across hospitals of different types and regions, necessitating a deeper understanding of their contextual applicability. ObjectiveOn the basis of an integrated theoretical framework that combines multidisciplinary perspectives from communication, marketing, and organizational management, this study aimed to investigate the effects of 3 dimension-based promotional strategies (activity, interactivity, and entertainment value) on 4 dimensions of hospital social media influence (audience reach, audience approval, audience interaction, and dissemination power). It also sought to explore variations in the effectiveness of these strategies across hospitals of different types and regions. MethodsData were collected from 721 officially verified hospital Weibo accounts and integrated with multidimensional hospital characteristics from the DXY National Hospital Database. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between promotional strategies and social media influence while controlling for hospital-specific characteristics. Heterogeneity analysis was conducted by incorporating interaction terms between promotional strategies and categorical dummy variables (used to group hospitals based on their characteristics) into the regression model. In addition, robustness checks were implemented to validate the stability of the main findings. ResultsThe promotional strategies of activity and interactivity demonstrated significant and consistent positive effects across all dimensions of social media influence. Specifically, a 10% increase in the number of Weibo posts (activity) was associated with a 4.8% increase in followers (P<.001), a 4.4% increase in maximum likes (P<.001), a 3.1% increase in maximum comments (P<.001), and a 4.9% increase in maximum shares (P<.001). Similarly, a 10% increase in the number of accounts followed by hospitals (interactivity) corresponded to a 4.5% increase in followers (P<.001), a 2.4% increase in maximum likes (P=.002), a 2.4% increase in maximum comments (P<.001), and a 3.1% increase in maximum shares (P<.001), whereas entertainment value had a more limited impact, significantly enhancing audience reach and approval in specific contexts. The heterogeneity analysis indicated that hospital ownership (public vs private), size, ranking, and regional location were key factors influencing the effectiveness of social media promotional strategies. ConclusionsThis study provides empirical evidence on how promotional strategies influence hospital social media performance and underscores the importance of tailoring strategies based on hospital type and regional characteristics. The findings emphasize that hospitals should strategically choose communication approaches that align with their unique characteristics. By tailoring promotional strategies to their specific attributes and regional contexts, hospitals can effectively enhance their social media influence, foster stronger public trust, and promote sustainable digital transformation.https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e70676 |
| spellingShingle | Xinyun Zhong Yiyuan Ma Haiyue Yu Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Study Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_full | Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_fullStr | Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_short | Leveraging Promotional Strategies to Enhance Hospital Influence on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Study |
| title_sort | leveraging promotional strategies to enhance hospital influence on social media cross sectional study |
| url | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e70676 |
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