The Effect of Social Media Marketing Activities (SMMA) on Repurchase Intention with Customer Satisfaction and Customer Trust as Mediatory Variables (Case Study on PT Bagus Trans Wisata (OTe Family Travel) 2024-2025)

Abstract

The increasing popularity of digital marketing through social media and the intense competition in the travel industry prompted this study. To succeed in this market, businesses must perform a dual role: attracting new customers and retaining existing ones by increasing their likelihood of repeat purchases. However, what we saw at PT Bagus Trans Wisata (OTe Family Travel) shows that more social media marketing doesn't necessarily translate into more customers, resulting in a gap between marketing plans and results. The purpose of this study is to examine the correlation between Social Media Marketing Activities (SMMA) and repurchase intention through the lens of customer satisfaction and trust as mediators. To better understand how repurchase intention is formed, this study model combines the correlations between SMMA, satisfaction, and trust, with a focus on experience-based tourism businesses. The research strategy used in this study is exploratory quantitative. All clients of OTe Family Travel (PT Bagus Trans Wisata) from November 2024 to October 2025 constitute the population. A total of 131 respondents were selected using a purposive sampling approach. To be included in the sample, the following conditions must be met: (1) customers must have used OTe Family Travel services at least once in the last 12 months; (2) they must be at least 45 years old; (3) they must be from the upper-middle economic segment and have monthly expenses exceeding IDR 5,000,000; and (4) they must have viewed the company's social media marketing campaigns on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. A structured questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale was used to collect data. Based on the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. According to the findings, there is a positive relationship between social media marketing activities and repurchase intention, the following results: SMMA influences customer satisfaction & customer trust; customer satisfaction and trust influence repurchase intention; and social media marketing activities influence repurchase intention indirectly through customer satisfaction and trust as intermediary variables. These findings demonstrate that the effectiveness of social media marketing is not solely determined by the intensity of activity, but also by its ability to build customer satisfaction and trust. This study contributes theoretically by developing an integrative model that simultaneously examines the mediating roles of satisfaction and trust, as well as providing practical insights for companies in designing more effective digital marketing strategies to increase customer loyalty.