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ORCID

Małgorzata Szwed 0000-0002-8138-4733

Keywords

self-presentation, personal branding, physicians, social media, consumer behaviour

Abstract

Technological developments and the broad availability of the Internet provide constant access to social media for users. These platforms are used to communicate with friends as well as to follow other users and brands. Also, physicians have public social media profiles on which they publish both professional and personal content. The objective of the paper is to explore and understand customers’ perception of physicians’ social media use. To obtain the purpose, a qualitative research method was adopted that involved 12 semistructured interviews with people who followed physicians’ profiles on social media. The study identifies three consumer groups: social media enthusiasts, sceptics, and those seeking authentic opinions, each with distinct attitudes toward physicians’ online presence. The findings emphasise that authenticity and consistency in personal branding are key to building trust and patient engagement. Social validation, through positive endorsements on social media, also significantly impacts consumer choices. The study highlights the need for tailored social media strategies in healthcare and suggests future research should address the ethical challenges and long-term effects of physicians’ online engagement. The research, focused on consumers’ perception of physicians’ social media presence, is novel. The results suggest directions for further research in the field of professionals’ personal branding on social media.

Acknowledgments

Funding

The research received no funds.

The cost of editing selected articles published in the Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets in the 2022–2024 is covered by funding under the program “Development of Scientific Journals” of the Ministry of Educationand Science under agreement No. RCN/SN/0322/2021/1. Task title: “Verification and correction of scientific articles and their abstracts”. Funding value: 25 053,00 PLN; The task consists of professional editing of articles published in English

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of the article.

Declaration about the scope of AI utilization

The authors did not use an AI tool in the preparation of the article.

First Page

1

Last Page

14

Page Count

14

Received Date

02.04.2024

Revised Date

11.08.2024

Accepted Date

13.08.2024

Online Available Date

05.11.2024

DOI

10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2024.2.1

JEL Code

M310, M370

Publisher

University of Warsaw

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