How ISIS is Effectively Using Social Media The harsh realities of terrorist activity is now an apparent threat and no longer an issue that can be ignored, with recent speculations of a bombing by the Islamic State terrorist group that brought down Russian Metrojet Flight 9268. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has claimed responsibility for the catastrophe, thus forcing officials to take a closer look at the militant group. What has been a constant presence in the news is now a name that carries a deadly fuel with them, the knowledge that not only is ISIS recruiting, it is acting. In this paper, I will examine a news article from Fortune about the increase in the ISIS social media strategy used to recruit young people all over the globe via Twitter and Facebook, and I will connect this article to integrated marketing communications, a topic discussed in Chapter 12. The article I will examine focuses primarily on how ISIS gained their advantage on social media, how it has maintained that hold, and also a look at how the U.S. can fight against ISIS’s social media stronghold. The Islamic State crafts its messages with a radical extremism that uses a promising combination of lofty rewards like selling electricity and oil from plants that have been captured by the Islamic state, and also using visually shocking and captivating images that are readily accessible via almost 50,000 social media accounts and smartphone apps. ISIS markets itself like a horrific startup, using the almost non-existent cost of social media and taking advantage of digitally adept members who are willing to go to gruesome extremes to catch the attention of others. Using advanced marketing techniques like the AIDA Model to craft far-reaching messages are both a strength for the terrorist group and a weakness for the U.S. ISIS has been able to successfully grab the attention of young people via social media using terrible and downright heinous images that have the measured effect of both sticking in the minds of its viewers and displaying the extremism this group is capable of. The interest in these terrorist groups has stemmed from that hold that they have: ISIS is ruthless, shown time and time again to “deliver,” its product to consumers, that is to say, its promise that the militant group will grow stronger and continue to be seen as a threat by the U.S. The desire that is aroused in consumers takes root in the minds of those viewers who play into the power dynamic a group as disgustingly enthralling and successful as ISIS plays. People who are committed to the message the group provides are attracted by its ability to perform consistently, continuing to display its radicalism, using the appeal of fear to get its message across. Consumers are motivated by this sadistic success, which is resulting in the unprecedented success of the group, with just over 50 Americans caught either supporting in some way or fleeing to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS forces this year. Consumer-created content is apparent in ISIS’s “pledges of ‘allegiance’” by far-reaching individuals or large insurgency groups worldwide, yet again via social media outlets like YouTube. These pledges are showing the diverse support the group is capable of garnering, which, in turn, facilitates the growth and justification of the product that this militant group is marketing. Once an advertisement has gained such a following, it is hard to disrupt it. Combating ISIS’s fierce marketing tactics is no easy task. Those looking to take down ISIS are in need of a new campaign strategy designed to fight this type of guerilla-warfare with equally ruthless ambition. A new marketing committee that understands the imprint social media can make on ISIS’s target market is in desperate demand to stop the growing stronghold this terrible group has made on the minds of young Americans, but tackling that hold is no simple feat. It will require a multi-step process for which no one really has an answer yet. Tackling the ISIS hierarchy may not be effective, and erasing the brutal messages that have been scorched into the brains of thousands is no simple task. Conclusively, ISIS has a remarkably sadistic hold that was attained via low-cost social media and consumer-driven marketing outlets that is no simple task to defeat. It uses a grisly combination of shocking images and appeals to fear in order to gather the large support it has. In order to fight the disturbing ground the group has gained, the United States is going to have to get extremely creative in its combative marketing strategies. http://fortune.com/2015/03/24/isis-the-internets-biggest-disruptor/