ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA ON NEW PATIENT VISITS AT SURABAYA ISLAMIC HOSPITAL, EAST JAVA

Abstract

The increasing competition among hospitals in Surabaya and changes in public behavior in seeking health information require hospitals to manage digital marketing in a more structured manner. This study analyzes the effect of Digital Marketing Strategy on Social Media and New Patient Visits and examines the mediating role of Social Media. A quantitative descriptive-verification design was employed using questionnaires from 100 new patients and internal hospital data for 2024–2025. Ordinal data were transformed into interval data using the Method of Successive Interval (MSI), followed by regression, path analysis, and the Sobel test. Digital Marketing Strategy positively and significantly affected Social Media (path coefficient = 0.846; t = 15.700; p = 0.000), Social Media positively and significantly affected New Patient Visits (0.873; t = 17.689; p = 0.000), and Digital Marketing Strategy had a significant direct effect on New Patient Visits (0.758; t = 11.498; p = 0.000). The indirect effect through Social Media was 0.738, with a Sobel statistic of 6.1205 (p < 0.05), indicating partial mediation. The second structural model produced R² = 71.6%. The findings indicate that informative, educational, relevant, and consistent digital marketing should be integrated with structured social media management to support sustainable growth in new patient visits.