iWorld
Social media & e-mail marketing top preferred channels for Indian marketers in 2016
NEW DELHI: Customer acquisition will be the primary focus for marketing activities to be carried out in 2016 for 58 per cent of Indian marketers, a study shows.
The study by Octane Research shows that Social Media (66 per cent) topped the list of marketing activities planned for 2016.
Email marketing was not far behind, with a 53 per cent share of Indian marketers. What’s more, according to the study, more than 50 per cent of marketers are planning to increase investment in all these activities.
Social media updates are the top choice for achieving maximum customer engagement (46 per cent), followed by email campaigns (28 per cent). SMS marketing was the least preferred (eight per cent).
A total of 64 per cent of Indian marketers believe that social media helps in improving brand reputation and increasing awareness. Social media also helps in extending the reach of email content to new markets and accelerating the growth of subscribers.
As per the study, around 80 per cent of Indian marketers believe that integrated campaigns (email, social and mobile) can result in a moderate to significant increase in conversion rates.
About 85 per cent of the Indian marketers are tracking revenues generated through e-marketing activities. A total 50 per cent of respondents shared that e-marketing activities are contributing to more than 10 per cent share of their revenues.
Email marketing proved effective for over half of the respondents, as 53 per cent of marketers found email marketing “effective” or “very effective.”
Reaching out to target audience (54 per cent votes) and acquiring new email addresses (50 per cent) surfaced as the top challenges faced by Indian marketers in 2015. Increasing the conversion rates was also a challenge faced by 35 per cent of marketers.
For the 2016 issue of this annual state of online marketing in India study, India’s leading industry associations – Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Retailers Association of India, Direct Marketing Association of India and Digital Defynd extended their support to Octane Research resulting in an active participation from 450+ Indian marketers from 400+ Brands.
Referring to the Annual Industry Report, Octane marketing director and co-founder Punit Modhgil said, “2015 was the year that digital firmly established in India. With more than 400 million India consumers on the internet now, India CMOs have dialled up their investments in digital marketing. In terms of impact, Indian marketers have recorded Social and Email Marketing to be the top performing online marketing channels.”
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
