Worldwide Social Media Benchmarks: Beauty & Drug Stores Q2 2026

User-generated content: what’s achievable

Brands using Emplifi’s UGC solution this quarter saw:

• 19.88x increase in conversion rate
• 5.06x increase in website visits
• 1.08x increase in average order value

These figures represent the median uplift seen across Emplifi’s Brands UGC Accounts Benchmark for Q2 2026.

Organic performance: Facebook and Instagram

Interaction share by industry

On Facebook, Ecommerce accounts for 27.5% of total brand interactions — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Ecommerce leads with 37.4% of interactions.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Worldwide, Instagram brand profiles carry a higher median follower count than Facebook pages. The figures below reflect relative comparisons across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026 (the underlying chart does not publish exact medians, only relative bubble sizes).

Activity volume on both platforms is higher on Instagram than on Facebook, while user engagement on Instagram also outpaces Facebook.

Median post interactions

Median post interactions track the middle-ranked page or profile by monthly interactions — a measure of typical performance rather than outlier peaks.

Instagram’s median post interactions held in the high-20s to low-30s for most of the past year before dipping to around 26 in January 2026, then partially recovering into the high-20s by June 2026. Facebook’s median stayed far lower throughout, hovering between 5 and 7 interactions with a gentle downward drift by the end of the period.

Relative median post interactions

Relative median interactions index each platform’s performance against its own peak over the reporting period, making it easier to compare directional trends across platforms regardless of absolute scale.

By June 2026, Facebook’s relative median interactions had fallen to around 65% of its yearly peak — its lowest point in the period — while Instagram held closer to its own peak, dipping to about 78% in January 2026 before recovering to roughly 85% by June.

Median post impressions

Impressions measure how many times posts were displayed, regardless of interaction. This metric is available for both platforms and reflects reach rather than engagement.

Instagram impressions climbed sharply through mid-2025, peaking at around 12,000 in September before pulling back to approximately 4,500 by June 2026. Facebook impressions peaked lower, around 6,500 in August 2025, and eased to roughly 3,000 by the end of the period.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~1.75%
• Facebook: ~0.55%

Instagram engagement held relatively steady in the 1.6%–1.9% range throughout the year, while Facebook engagement stayed low but ticked up slightly toward the end of the period, ending near 0.55% after dipping under 0.4% in late 2025.

Best-performing post types

Facebook: Live Video and Link posts continue to outperform other formats organically. In Q2 2026, Live Video generated a median of 28 post interactions, while Link posts reached 13.

Instagram: Reel and Carousel posts lead organic performance. Reels generated a median of 40 post interactions this quarter; Carousels reached 28.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 63% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 28% by Q2 2026. On Instagram, Reels lead post volume at around 42% of posts, with Images and Carousels each accounting for roughly a quarter of posts published, with Reels and Carousels driving the majority of top-performing content.

Top performing pages and profiles

Facebook — top pages by total interactions (Q2 2026):

Instagram — top profiles by total interactions (Q2 2026):

Top posts this quarter

The highest-performing individual posts by interactions across Worldwide brands in Q2 2026:

Facebook:

Instagram:

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Paid performance: Facebook and Instagram ads

Where brands are spending

The majority of paid spend for Worldwide brands goes to FB feed, followed by IG feed and IG instagram reels. Spending on FB feed is 18.7 percentage points higher than on IG feed.

CPC and CPM by placement

The most cost-efficient placements for Worldwide brands this quarter:

• Lowest CPC: FB feed, FB facebook reels, and IG instagram stories
• Lowest CPM: FB feed, FB facebook reels, and IG instagram reels

CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):

Click-through rate by placement

Within the Worldwide brands benchmark, FB feed leads on CTR at 1.53%, compared to FB facebook reels at 0.87%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for Worldwide:

Beauty & Drug Stores’ ad cost slides did not surface a separate industry-specific breakout this quarter — only the pooled Worldwide ad accounts benchmark was available, so the brands and region figures above are identical. CPC held in the $0.19–$0.23 range for most of the past year, dipping to around $0.17 in January 2026 before recovering to roughly $0.21 by June. CPM followed a similar arc, falling to about $1.65 in January 2026 and climbing back to around $2.10–$2.15 by June after peaking near $2.30 in November 2025. CTR trended gently upward across the period, rising from the high-0.8% range to finish around 1.05%–1.08%.

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