Impact of Social Media Advertising on Hospital Brand Awareness and Patient Choice

Abstract

Social media advertising has become a central instrument in hospital marketing strategy, used to build brand recognition, communicate service offerings, and influence the decision-making of prospective patients. This paper examines the impact of social media advertising on hospital brand awareness and patient choice, with reference to multi-specialty hospitals competing within the same urban catchment area. As patients increasingly research and compare hospitals online before making a choice, particularly for elective and planned procedures, social media advertising has emerged as a key touchpoint influencing both awareness and trust ahead of the first clinical interaction. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires administered to patients and prospective patients who had encountered hospital advertising on social media platforms, supplemented by secondary data drawn from hospital marketing reports, platform advertising analytics, and published healthcare-marketing literature. Findings reveal that patient testimonials, doctorcredential-led content, and targeted local advertising recorded the strongest influence on brand recall and choice, while generic promotional content showed comparatively weak impact. Hospitals with sustained, credibility-focused social media advertising recorded measurably higher brand awareness and stronger representation in patient consideration sets than hospitals relying on sporadic or purely promotional advertising. The paper concludes with recommendations for credibility-driven content strategy, targeted local advertising, and integration of advertising analytics with patient-conversion tracking to strengthen the role of social media advertising in hospital brand building.