An e-commerce merchant launches a retargeting campaign on Facebook in March 2024, targeting profiles based on their health interests, and receives a notification of non-compliance with the DSA in the following weeks. This type of mishap illustrates how much the rules of digital marketing have changed, sometimes faster than the habits of operational teams.
Optimizing your strategy in 2024 is no longer just about choosing the right channels or producing regular content: it requires integrating new regulatory constraints and rethinking how data is collected, utilized, and activated.
DSA and targeted advertising: what changes concretely for your campaigns
Since February 17, 2024, the Digital Services Act (DSA) applies to all online platforms and intermediaries operating in the European market. For marketing teams, the most direct consequence affects advertising targeting.
Targeted advertising based on sensitive data is now prohibited: religion, political opinions, health, sexual orientation. Campaigns that exploited these segments, even indirectly through interests, must be reconfigured.
Targeting based on the profiling of minors is also prohibited on platforms accessible to this audience (social networks, marketplaces). Each advertisement must be clearly identifiable as such, with the name of the advertiser, the payer if applicable, and the main targeting parameters used.
In practice, several advertisers have already adapted their parameters on Meta and TikTok to avoid at-risk segments. Very large platforms must also maintain public advertising archives, which makes competing strategies more visible. Before launching a campaign, one can now consult these libraries to analyze a competitor’s positioning, visuals, and declared audiences.
For those looking to structure their approach in light of these changes, the Simpler Computing marketing site offers useful resources on the relationship between compliance and performance.
SEO content strategy: produce less but target better
The temptation remains strong to publish a lot to cover as many queries as possible. In practice, results show the opposite: a well-positioned article on a specific query generates more qualified traffic than ten average pages.
The work begins with identifying queries with transactional or decision-making intent, not just informational. Content that answers “which emailing tool to choose for a SME” converts better than a general article on “the advantages of emailing.”
- Analyze long-tail queries with tools like Google Search Console to identify terms where the site already appears between positions 8 and 20: these are quick wins
- Structure each page around a single search intent, with internal linking to complementary pages rather than grouping everything together
- Update existing content (dates, data, broken links) instead of creating new ones: updated content ranks faster than new content
Companies that apply this logic reduce their publication volume while increasing their visibility on the keywords that matter. SEO in 2024 remains a fundamental lever for digital marketing, provided it is not treated as a content factory.
First-party data and activation without third-party cookies
The gradual disappearance of third-party cookies requires rethinking data collection. In practice, brands that are faring best are those that invested in their first-party data before the constraint became urgent.
Specifically, this involves simple mechanisms: well-designed forms, loyalty programs with clear opt-in, downloadable content in exchange for a qualified email address. The goal is not to accumulate contacts, but to have reliable data on which to build actionable audience segments.
Feedback varies on this point depending on the sectors. In B2C e-commerce, the transition is more natural thanks to customer accounts. In B2B or services, the effort to collect often requires a redesign of web journeys. In both cases, the CRM becomes the center of gravity of the marketing strategy, not the advertising platform.
Once this data is collected, activation occurs through segmented email tools, retargeting on proprietary lists, or similar audiences built from internal databases. One is no longer dependent on opaque algorithmic targeting.
Social media campaigns: balancing formats and platforms
Publishing everywhere with the same content no longer works. The algorithms of each social network favor specific formats, and audiences do not react the same way depending on the platform.
- On Instagram and TikTok, short video remains the format that generates the most organic reach. Brands that test raw formats (shot on smartphones, without heavy post-production) often achieve better engagement rates than polished productions
- On LinkedIn, textual posts with a strong viewpoint regularly outperform visuals or external links, which are penalized by the algorithm
- On YouTube, long videos continue to capture search traffic, provided they are optimized with SEO titles and descriptions
The balancing act is based on where the target audience is, not where the brand feels most comfortable. Time is saved by concentrating efforts on two mastered platforms rather than five poorly fed ones.
The DSA also requires that each sponsored content be identified as such with visible targeting parameters. This transparency also changes audience perception: campaigns that embrace their commercial dimension without overplaying spontaneity tend to perform better in terms of trust.
Adapting your digital marketing strategy in 2024 means accepting a stricter framework on data and advertising, while refocusing efforts on what produces measurable results. Tools are changing, regulations are tightening, but the principle remains the same: know your audience, speak to them in the right place, and measure what works.
