Trade and competition changing with internet: Use of digital media in micro enterprises

In the literature, it is seen that various researches on internet and digital media usage are performed for communication activities of SMEs. In the SME category, there was no descriptive study of micro-enterprises which are defined as the smallest scale enterprises. In this study, it was aimed to create a general view of how micro-enterprises conduct marketing communication activities in digital media. In this direction, qualitative techniques have been used to collect large-scale and in-depth information from a narrow sample. This study consists of 4 parts; the first part contains the relevant literature and the second part explains the method of the research. In the third part, the research findings are presented. In the fourth part, the results and discussion sections are given. In the literature part of the research firstly the emergence of the internet was examined and then the process of transition from traditional media to digital media was discussed. The search engine, social media, mobile technologies, etc. that emerged with the development of the Internet have been discussed in marketing communications. In the research part, there are results of semi-structured in-depth interviews with 21 firms that fit the definition of micro enterprises in Istanbul. According to the results of the research, micro-enterprises are trying to follow the opportunities of digital media and take advantage of these opportunities within their own possibilities.