Australia and New Zealand Social Media Benchmarks: Accommodation Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, Accommodation brands in Australia and New Zealand saw Instagram post interactions running roughly 4–5x higher than Facebook’s, with median engagement rates of about 3.7% on Instagram versus 1.7% on Facebook. Ecommerce brands continued to dominate overall interaction share on both platforms in the region — Accommodation itself accounts for a small slice of that pie — while Facebook Feed remained the cheapest and highest-CTR ad placement for advertisers in this category.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 433 Facebook pages and 123 Instagram profiles across Australia and New Zealand, covering April 1, 2026 through June 30, 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 62.4% of total brand interactions — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Ecommerce also leads with 61.8% of interactions. Accommodation itself is a niche category by comparison, sharing just 0.4% of total Facebook brand-page interactions and 0.2% of total Instagram brand-profile interactions in Australia and New Zealand.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Australia and New Zealand, Instagram brand profiles carry a higher median follower count than Facebook pages for Accommodation brands. The underlying chart for this comparison doesn’t carry printed numeric labels (it’s a relative bubble-size visual), so the table below reflects directional comparisons rather than exact figures, based on the report’s own summary language.

Activity volume 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 median post interactions declined from around 18 in May 2025 to the 13–15 range by late 2025, and held in that band through Q2 2026, ending at approximately 14.5. Facebook stayed nearly flat at around 3 median interactions for almost the entire period, after an initial dip from about 4 in May 2025.

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 Q2 2026, Instagram’s relative median interactions had settled at around 80% of its May 2025 peak, after dipping as low as roughly 72% in early 2026. Facebook dropped quickly to about 75% of its peak within the first two months of the period and stayed close to that level for the remainder.

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 near 6,600 around August–September, before declining steadily to approximately 2,100 by Q2 2026 — nearly back to where the period started. Facebook impressions stayed low throughout, drifting down from about 1,700 to roughly 1,050 over the same window.

Note: The Median Post Engagement Rate and Median Post Impressions slides in the source deck for this particular dataset draw from Emplifi’s Worldwide Accommodation profile benchmark (12,804 Facebook pages, 4,694 Instagram profiles) rather than the Australia and New Zealand-specific sample used elsewhere in this report. We’re flagging it rather than presenting it as region-specific data.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~3.7%
• Facebook: ~1.7%

Instagram engagement held in the 2.8%–3.1% range for most of the period before climbing to around 3.7% by Q2 2026 — its highest point in the reporting window. Facebook engagement rose steadily as well, from about 1.0% in May 2025 to roughly 1.7% by Q2 2026, though it remains well below Instagram’s level.

Best-performing post types

Facebook: Link and standard Video posts are the top-performing organic formats for Accommodation brands in this region. Live Video — often a strong performer in other markets — saw negligible volume here and isn’t separately charted in the source data. In Q2 2026, Link posts generated a median of 6 post interactions, while standard Video reached 4.

Instagram: Reel and Carousel posts lead organic performance. Reels generated a median of 24 post interactions this quarter; Carousels reached 16.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 73% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 19% by Q2 2026. On Instagram, Reels, Images, and Carousels each account for roughly a third 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 Australia and New Zealand brands in Q2 2026:

Facebook:

Instagram:

How does your brand compare?

These benchmarks reflect median performance across thousands of brands in Emplifi’s dataset. Get a free personalized assessment to see exactly where your brand stands today.

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Paid performance: Facebook and Instagram ads

Where brands are spending

The majority of paid spend for Australia and New Zealand brands goes to Facebook Feed, followed by Instagram Feed and Instagram Reels. Spending on Facebook Feed is 26.68 percentage points higher than on Instagram Feed.

CPC and CPM by placement

The most cost-efficient placements for Australia and New Zealand brands this quarter:

• Lowest CPC: Facebook Feed, Facebook Reels, and Instagram Stories
• Lowest CPM: Facebook Feed, Facebook Reels, and Instagram Reels

CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):

Click-through rate by placement

Within the Australia and New Zealand brands benchmark, Facebook Feed leads on CTR at 1.68%, compared to Facebook Reels at 1.03%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for Australia and New Zealand:

Accommodation in Australia and New Zealand did not clear Emplifi’s 200-active-ad-account minimum needed for its own industry-specific ad-account breakout this quarter, so the source deck provides only a single “Australia and New Zealand Ad Accounts Benchmark” data set — the figures above reflect that region-wide benchmark for both columns. CPC fluctuated between roughly $0.36 and $0.54 over the past year, dipping to about $0.36 in early 2026 before climbing back to $0.45 by Q2 2026. CPM trended upward overall, rising from around $3.10 in May 2025 to approximately $4.55 by Q2 2026, with a temporary dip around January 2026. CTR improved over the period too, climbing from about 1.02% to roughly 1.18%, after a low point near 0.80% in mid-2025.