Enhancing the Social Media Marketing of Agri-Tourism by Farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines and the Development of the Hellical Model of Participatory Communication Action Research
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Abstract
Agri-tourism is a sustainable and growing industry in the Philippines that could further be enhanced thru social media, a low-cost marketing tool with a global reach. To maximize social media for agri-tourism, there is a need first to gather baseline information as basis for enhancement. This study assessed the capacity of 26 La Trinidad farmers on using social media to promote their farms as agri-tourism sites. The study employed the Participatory Communication Research Action (PCRA) Model. Results from community consultations, ocular surveys, key informant interviews, and document reviews revealed that the study areas have natural characteristics and enough resources to support agri-tourism. However, the farmers needed further assistance in addressing the issues that come with these characteristics and resources. The assessment test showed that the respondents have a moderate level of social media marketing (SMM) skills, knowledge, and traits. Thus, the study conducted a seminar on SMM where the participants were guided to develop SMM plans for their own farms. Additionally, the study was able to assess the PCRA Model and found it to be far more flexible than originally thought. Thus, the study crafted a more coherent PCRA model, namely the Model of Participatory Communication towards Self-management, from combining the lessons learned from this study and the strength of Dance’s Helix Model of communication. The study recommends that government or non-government extension efforts may look into further addressing the needed additional SMM knowledge, skills, and traits of the respondents as well as possible capacity building activities on product development. Future studies could look into the progress of the SMM plans developed by the respondents to find out how the respondents could be further assisted
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