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Journal number 4 ∘ Nugzar ToduaCharita JashiNia Todua
The Impact of Social Media Marketing Activities on Purchase Intentions of Healthcare Consumers

According to this study, social networks have become an essential part of the lives of Georgian consumers, and they use them frequently. Georgian consumers are increasingly using the Internet to obtain medical treatment and are especially interested in information linked to health. Nevertheless, it should be noted that COVID-19 has significantly altered its perspective on social media. As a result, individuals started to show greater interest in the details and deals offered by healthcare providers. Healthcare providers operating in Georgia's medical services industry have official social media profiles. Our research indicates that Georgian consumers demonstrate a reasonably low activity level. In addition, Georgian consumers do not trust the content shared on social media. Regression analysis revealed statistically significant values that show how customer engagement, trust, and behavioural intentions relate to social media activities offered by healthcare organizations. Additionally, linear regression models that account for the connections between the abovementioned variables are received. Using these models, we can determine how increased social media advertising activities may impact consumer behaviour.
Based on the study results, we considered it appropriate to make some recommendations.

  • To make social media marketing more popular in the healthcare field in Georgia, it is necessary to hold various events. Healthcare organizations need to realize that more integration in social media is a way to attract consumers to the market and gain a competitive advantage rather than incur extra costs. For this, healthcare organizations should be supported by relevant government structures and organize multilateral meetings to promote social media marketing. For example, it is possible to launch various social campaigns related to healthcare, the target audience of which will be mainly social media users.
  • Healthcare organizations must become more active on social media platforms and conduct direct, personal messaging-based communication with consumers. It is advisable for all medical institutions to have a social media service and to invest more resources in its activities. Representatives of such a service should improve their image and reach out directly to customers.
  • As the culture of self-health monitoring by the population in Georgia is low, social media can be an ideal place to disseminate this kind of information. This will have a double effect. One is that the number of users of the medical institution will increase, and the other is that the level of health self-control by the population of Georgia will also increase. Social media should provide users with health-related tips that will be interesting, authentic, and helpful. We consider it reasonable to create special groups, which will be staffed by doctors, designers, marketers, and social media specialists. Physicians must ensure the preparation of the textual part of the content, and the designer must create visual content that will be consistent with the content of the text. The marketer must provide the designer with the material for the design. All of this should be coordinated by a social media specialist who will eventually place the content on social media platforms and ensure its management. This is an excellent opportunity for the medical facility to set up an appropriate platform and consult patients remotely. Of course, gaining consumers' trust in the first stage will be challenging, but gradually, as the number of patients increases, the degree of confidence will also increase.
  • Georgian consumers are not accustomed to writing reviews about the quality of medical services on social media. In many countries, having evaluations is very important for medical institutions. They do their best to avoid negative evaluations. It is a system through which the user forces the medical institution to improve the quality. As a result, the quality of medical services increases, which positively impacts both parties, clinics and customers.

The usage of social media marketing in the healthcare industry is affected by this research in several theoretical ways. First of all, it is essential to recognize that even though social media marketing activities are a very broad issue and have been the subject of much research, there still needs to be more in this field. This means theorems research needs to be done to establish a connection between medical organizations' social media marketing activities and variables such as customer engagement, trust, and behavioural intention that impact consumer behaviour. The relationship between these variables is established in part by this study. However, we discovered that the social media marketing activity factors we chose based on the research were significant and relevant to the healthcare sector. The study acknowledges the significance of social media marketing initiatives to guarantee the growth of consumer behaviour in the medical services market, which enhances the amount of information already known in this area. In conclusion, this study provided a multitude of data that may be applied in further investigations to acquire a more profound understanding of the influence of social media marketing on customer behaviour.
From the managerial perspective, this study's primary contributions are as follows: First, managers working in the health industry will benefit from the study's findings as they expand their knowledge of how social media marketing initiatives may be useful tools for connecting with current and prospective customers. Secondly, companies in the health industry might use the research results to inform their business plan preparation. Third, by better understanding their consumers' purchasing perceptions, healthcare providers will be able to create marketing strategies that will assist them in reaching their objectives.

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Keywords: Social Media, Health Care, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Research.
JEL Codes: I10, I11, D11, M31