The Effect of Social Media Marketing towards Consumer Purchase Intention with Consumer Engagement as Mediating Variable: Study Case on the Papandayan Hotel Consumers

Abstract

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Indonesia, Bandung's tourism sector has experienced a significant decline. The tourism sector that experienced a decline included several spaces such as transportation, travel services, lodging, and recreation. The number of social media users continues to increase and grow. In April 2019, the number of social media users reached 3.5 billion in the world, including Instagram users, with a total of 802 million active users. Instagram users continue to increase every year, especially users aged 17 years and above. Social media, especially Instagram, is also used by business sectors, including the tourism sector. Many hotels are competing to attract consumers by creating interesting content on Instagram, including The Papandayan Hotel. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of social media marketing and consumer engagement on consumer purchase intentions at The Papandayan Hotel. The method used in this research is through the distribution of questionnaires using Google Forms to 400 Indonesian respondents who know and follow The Papandayan Hotel's Instagram account.

To test the research model, descriptive analysis is used in the study by describing the data that have been acquired without aiming to generalize or make inferences. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is a generational multivariate analysis technique that combines factor analysis and path analysis, allowing researchers to test and estimate the interconnection between multiple exogenous and endogenous variables with many indicators simultaneously using SmartPLS software. The sampling technique used is non-probability sampling with purposive sampling. Based on the results obtained in this study, the results of the descriptive analysis show that Social Media Marketing, Consumer Engagement, and Consumer Purchase Intentions are in a good category. The results of the hypothesis show that the Social Media Marketing variable has a significant effect on Consumer Engagement, then Consumer Engagement which has a significant effect on Consumer Purchase Intention. This research is expected to provide benefits and insights to other researchers and companies regarding the Effect of Social Media Marketing on Consumer Purchase Intentions through Consumer Engagement. The author suggests that The Papandayan Hotel can improve its social media marketing strategy by using interactive posts on its Instagram account. With it, consumers can be more interactive, increasing their purchase intention towards The Papandayan Hotel.