Australia and New Zealand Social Media Benchmarks: Finance Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, Finance brands in Australia and New Zealand saw median Instagram post engagement rates of around 2.9%, well ahead of Facebook at roughly 1.4%. Video and Live Video led organic performance on Facebook, while Reels and Carousels drove the strongest results on Instagram. Facebook feed remained the dominant, and most cost-efficient, ad placement across both the Finance-specific and broader regional ad benchmarks.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 313 Facebook pages and 125 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 leads with 61.8% of interactions. Finance itself is a much smaller slice of the regional picture, accounting for just 0.7% of Facebook brand-page interactions and 0.3% of 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, the “Social Media Landscape” chart for Finance is presented as a bubble comparison rather than one with printed numeric values, so exact median follower/fan, post-volume, and interaction counts for this specific view aren’t available. Directionally, Emplifi’s data indicates:

Activity volume on both platforms is roughly comparable, while user engagement on Instagram 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 fluctuated between 8 and 12 over the past year, dipping in July 2025 and again in December 2025 before ending Q2 2026 at 10. Facebook held broadly flat between 4 and 6 across the full period, closing the quarter at 4.

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 sat at around 83% of its peak, having touched 100% twice (May 2025 and March 2026), while Facebook ended the period at approximately 66% of its own peak, also last hitting 100% back in May 2025.

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 from around 1,300 in May 2025 to a peak near 3,800 around September–October 2025, then pulled back steadily to approximately 1,780 by Q2 2026. Facebook impressions stayed comparatively flat in the 2,000–2,500 range for most of the period before drifting down to around 1,430 by the end of the quarter.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~2.9%
• Facebook: ~1.4%

Instagram engagement held broadly steady in the 2.5–2.9% range across the past year, ending Q2 2026 near its highest point. Facebook engagement stayed close to 0.85–1.05% for most of the period before ticking up to around 1.4% in the final quarter.

Best-performing post types

Facebook: Live Video and standard Video continue to outperform other formats organically. In Q2 2026, Live Video generated a median of 10 post interactions, while standard Video reached 28.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 8 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 21.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 59% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 27% 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 Finance brands goes to FB feed, followed by FB facebook reels and IG feed. Spending on FB feed is 17.67 percentage points higher than on FB facebook reels.

CPC and CPM by placement

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

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

CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):

Click-through rate by placement

Within the Finance brands benchmark, FB feed leads on CTR at 1.53%, compared to FB facebook reels at 0.93%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for Australia and New Zealand. This deck includes a dedicated Finance Ad Accounts Benchmark alongside the regional Australia and New Zealand Ad Accounts Benchmark, so the table below uses Finance-specific figures for the Brands benchmark column and region-wide figures for the Australia and New Zealand overall column:

Finance-specific CPC held steady at around $0.10–0.14 for most of the past year, ending Q2 2026 at approximately $0.13 — well below the region-wide figure, which climbed from roughly $0.36 to a peak near $0.54 in late 2025 before settling around $0.45. CPM followed a similar pattern: Finance CPM stayed close to $1.00–1.40 throughout, while Australia and New Zealand overall CPM rose from about $3.10 to around $4.55 by Q2 2026. CTR for Finance brands trended upward across the period, ending at approximately 1.30%, edging past the Australia and New Zealand overall CTR, which finished around 1.18% after a more volatile path.