Middle East Markets Social Media Benchmarks: Finance Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, Finance brands in Middle East Markets saw median Instagram engagement rates of around 2.35%, more than double the roughly 1.2% seen on Facebook. Retail led interaction share on both platforms, with Finance ranking 5th on Facebook and 4th on Instagram. Live Video and Status posts led organic Facebook performance, while Carousels and Reels drove the strongest results on Instagram.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 305 Facebook pages and 267 Instagram profiles across Middle East Markets, 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. This deck uses the generic Brands UGC benchmark slide (not an industry-specific one) for Finance in Middle East Markets, so these figures match the global constant used across most industries.

Organic performance: Facebook and Instagram

Interaction share by industry

On Facebook, Retail accounts for 20.8% of total brand interactions — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Retail leads with 20.7% of interactions. Finance itself ranks 5th on Facebook (7.9% share) and 4th on Instagram (11.0% share) among all categories in Middle East Markets.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Middle East Markets, Finance’s Instagram brand profiles actually carry a lower median follower count than Facebook pages — the reverse of the pattern seen in many other industries. The source chart for this section is a bubble/circle visualization with no printed numeric labels, so the table below reflects the qualitative comparison given directly in the slide’s own caption text rather than exact figures.

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 declined gradually across the reporting period, from around 23 in May 2025 to about 15 by June 2026, with a small rebound around November 2025. Facebook stayed essentially flat throughout, hovering between 5 and 7.

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 fallen to around 65% of its peak, while Facebook — which repeatedly returned to 100% of its peak across the period — ended at roughly 86%, showing more resilience despite lower absolute volume.

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 1,900 in May 2025 to a peak of roughly 6,100 in September 2025, held near 5,600–5,700 through November, then dropped sharply to around 2,700 by January 2026 and continued declining to approximately 1,000 by Q2 2026. Facebook impressions stayed low and flat throughout, ending close to Instagram’s level by the end of the period.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~2.35%
• Facebook: ~1.2%

Instagram engagement held broadly stable in the 1.8–2.2% range for most of the year before rising to its highest point of the period in Q2 2026. Facebook engagement trended gradually upward across the year, ending modestly higher than where it started.

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 46 post interactions, while standard Video reached 2.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 19 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 16.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 66% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 29% 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 Middle East Markets Finance brands in Q2 2026:

Facebook:

Instagram:

How does your brand compare?

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Paid performance: Facebook and Instagram ads

Where brands are spending

The majority of paid spend for Middle East Markets 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 Middle East Markets 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 Middle East Markets:

Finance-specific CPC held in a $0.11–$0.14 band for most of the past year before ending Q2 2026 at approximately $0.13. CPM followed a similar pattern, climbing from about $1.08 to $1.44 over the period. CTR for Finance trended upward across the year, ending near 1.28%. Note: the comparison series in the source deck’s trend charts (slides for CPC, CPM, CTR, and Spend) is labeled “Asia” rather than “Middle East Markets” — an apparent mislabeled leftover from another region’s chart template — but we’ve used its printed figures as the best available broader-benchmark comparison, which ended Q2 2026 at roughly $0.08 CPC, $0.87 CPM, and 1.03% CTR.