The clothing retailer's CMO reveals why doubling down on organic social engagement, not chasing trends, drove bigger brand metrics this season.
Express's CMO Joe Berean didn't start from scratch when building the retailer's holiday campaign. He looked back at what the brand had done in spring, specifically, which posts and messages generated organic social engagement without paid promotion, and made that the foundation of 'Holiday, Hamlin Style.'
The strategy reflects a shift in how mature retail brands think about seasonal campaigns. Rather than reinvent the wheel every quarter or chase whatever trend is buzzing on social, Express extended what customers were already talking about and engaging with into a larger, seasonal play.
Organic social engagement, the comments, shares, and saves that happen without paid promotion, is the clearest signal of what your audience actually cares about. When Express reviewed its spring results, those signals showed the brand what tone, format, and message moved customers to act. That's gold for campaign planning.
Most businesses chase the latest platform trend or follow a content calendar written months in advance without checking what's actually landing. Express did the opposite: it measured what worked, then doubled down on it.
Express saw measurable brand metric gains from the spring campaign, and the holiday campaign was designed to build on that momentum. By staying consistent with what worked, rather than pivoting to something new, the retailer reinforced the message and kept customers in a familiar conversation.
For retail and commerce businesses, this is a template: measure organic response to your social content, identify patterns, then use those patterns as the backbone of your next campaign. You don't need to be Express to do it. You need analytics, discipline, and willingness to let data override gut feeling.
How WebKing runs this
We pull the organic engagement data from your social channels, identify which messages and formats drove real conversation, and use those signals to shape the creative and messaging strategy for your next campaign so you're building on proof, not intuition.
Express looked at actual organic engagement metrics from the spring campaign, what customers shared, commented on, and responded to without paid promotion, and treated those signals as proof of what resonates with their audience. They then applied those same principles and tone to a new holiday angle.
Not necessarily, but you do need to track what your audience engages with organically year-round. Any recent social content that generated real engagement, comments, shares, saves, is a signal you can build on for your next campaign.
The article cites that Express saw metric gains from its spring campaign and built on those gains with the holiday campaign, but specific metrics aren't detailed. The takeaway is that organic social engagement is a leading indicator for broader brand performance.
No, organic engagement tells you what message resonates. Once you know what works, you can amplify it with paid reach. The lesson is to let organic performance inform what you pay to scale, rather than guessing at what to promote.
Sources
The Lab is original analysis by WebKing. We summarize and interpret developments from the sources above for industrial, commercial, and small business owners. Figures are reported as published by their sources.
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