Zhong Xinyun, Ma Yiyuan, Yu Haiyue
School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong).
Institute of Applied Economics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai, China.
J Med Internet Res. 2025 Aug 22;27:e70676. doi: 10.2196/70676.
Social 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.
On 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.
Data 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.
The 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.
This 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.
社交媒体已成为医院与公众互动、传播健康知识和建立信任的重要平台。虽然促销策略已显示出增强社交媒体影响力的潜力，但这些策略影响医院在社交媒体上影响力的机制仍不明确。此外，这些策略的有效性可能因不同类型和地区的医院而异，因此有必要更深入地了解其在具体情境中的适用性。
基于一个整合了传播学、营销学和组织管理学多学科视角的理论框架，本研究旨在调查基于三个维度的促销策略（活跃度、互动性和娱乐价值）对医院社交媒体影响力四个维度（受众覆盖面、受众认可度、受众互动和传播力）的影响。研究还试图探索这些策略在不同类型和地区医院中的有效性差异。
从721个经过官方认证的医院微博账号收集数据，并与丁香园全国医院数据库中的多维医院特征数据相结合。使用多元线性回归分析来评估促销策略与社交媒体影响力之间的关系，同时控制医院特定特征。通过将促销策略与分类虚拟变量（用于根据医院特征对医院进行分组）之间的交互项纳入回归模型进行异质性分析。此外，还进行了稳健性检验以验证主要研究结果的稳定性。
活跃度和互动性的促销策略在社交媒体影响力的所有维度上均显示出显著且一致的积极影响。具体而言，微博发文数量（活跃度）增加10%，粉丝数增加4.8%（P<0.001），最大点赞数增加4.4%（P<0.001），最大评论数增加3.1%（P<0.001），最大分享数增加4.9%（P<0.001）。同样，医院关注的账号数量（互动性）增加10%，粉丝数增加4.5%（P<0.001），最大点赞数增加2.4%（P = 0.002），最大评论数增加2.4%（P<0.001），最大分享数增加3.1%（P<0.001），而娱乐价值的影响较为有限，仅在特定情境下显著提高了受众覆盖面和认可度。异质性分析表明，医院所有制（公立与私立）、规模、排名和地区位置是影响社交媒体促销策略有效性的关键因素。
本研究为促销策略如何影响医院社交媒体表现提供了实证证据，并强调了根据医院类型和地区特征量身定制策略的重要性。研究结果强调，医院应战略性地选择与其独特特征相匹配的沟通方式。通过根据自身特定属性和地区背景量身定制促销策略，医院可以有效提升其在社交媒体上的影响力，增强公众信任，并促进可持续的数字化转型。
