Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and rank the influential social marketing factors for physical activity promotion. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive-survey approach is used in this study. First, the influential social marketing factors for physical activity promotion were determined through the review of theoretical foundations and literature. The factors with a >0.7 content validity index (CVI) value, based on the experts' opinion, were selected. A total of 23 individuals participated in the study, including sports marketing experts and members of physical activity committees of Iranian sports federations, and they were selected purposively. The study data were collected using a pairwise comparison questionnaire and analyzed using the DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP) method. Findings: In this study, a total of 17 influential social marketing factors were identified and categorized in 5 dimensions: product, price, place, promotion and partnership. Based on DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP) results, the "promotion" with the weight of 0.212 was the most important dimension and "providing inexpensive sports services" with the weight of 0.096 was the most important social marketing factor influencing the promotion of the physical activity. Originality/value: The results highlight the importance of sport for all services expenses and costs in promoting physical activity. Thus, the results can be the basis for policies regarding social marketing to promote physical activity.