An investigation of using digital marketing tools on pitahaya producers: A case of Mersin province

In a digitized and competitive era, market demands force us to improve and update ourselves day by day. In the globalizing world, the use of digital marketing tools is important and provides advances for agricultural producers. The purpose of this research is to examine the use of digital marketing tools in the marketing activities of pitahaya producers in Mersin. In this context, data obtained through face-to-face interviews with eight pitahaya producers were analyzed in the MAXQDA 18.2 program. In the analysis section; "product and marketing information" and "use of digital marketing tools" are grouped by coding them with their main titles and related subtitles. As a result of the study, it has been determined that pitahaya producers do not have any sales problems in the domestic market due to the fact that the demand is more than supply in the current conditions. In digital marketing, manufacturers mainly use Facebook and Instagram, which are social media applications. However, it is predicted that the marketing activities carried out on social media may be insufficient due to the expected increase number of producers and products in the future periods. In this study, It has been determined that, producers do not have digital marketing strategies and are inadequate especially in the use of Google tools. For this reason, it was concluded that they should receive professional support in the field of digital marketing. Keywords: Digital, digital marketing tools, marketing activity, dragon fruit (pitahaya)