North America Social Media Benchmarks: Finance Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, Finance brands in North America saw median post engagement rates of around 2.87% on Instagram, while Facebook trailed at roughly 1.38%. Ecommerce dominated interaction share across all industries on both platforms, while Video and Carousel/Reel formats led organic performance for Finance brands specifically.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 1,070 Facebook pages and 444 Instagram profiles across North America, 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 48.3% of total brand interactions — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Ecommerce leads with 33.8% of interactions. Finance itself holds a modest share on both platforms — 1.3% of total Facebook interactions and 0.7% of total Instagram interactions among North America brand pages/profiles — placing it within the “Others” segment rather than the top 5 categories.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In North America, Instagram brand profiles carry a lower median follower count than Facebook pages for Finance. The figures below reflect relative comparisons across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026; the underlying chart in this deck (a bubble/circle comparison) does not print exact numeric values, so directional comparisons are used instead.

Activity volume on both platforms is higher on Facebook, 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 held well above Facebook’s throughout the past year, peaking near 19 in late 2025 before easing to around 14 by Q2 2026, while Facebook stayed flat in the 6–8 range across the full 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 Q2 2026, both platforms had converged to around 74–75% of their respective peaks — Facebook slipping from a steady ~88% plateau held for most of the period, and Instagram recovering somewhat after dipping to about 68% in early 2026.

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 about 1,300 in mid-2025, peaking near 3,800 in September before pulling back to roughly 1,780 by Q2 2026 — likely reflecting algorithmic reach patterns tied to Reels distribution. Facebook impressions stayed in a tighter 1,400–2,500 band throughout, ending around 1,450.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~2.87%
• Facebook: ~1.38%

Instagram engagement held broadly steady in the high-2% range across the past year, while Facebook engagement stayed under 1% for most of the period before climbing to around 1.38% by Q2 2026.

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 1 post interactions, while standard Video reached 8. (Note: in this dataset, standard Video was actually the top-performing format overall, with Live Video the lowest — see full table below.)

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 22 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 19.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 67% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 22% 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 North America 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 North America brands goes to FB feed, followed by IG feed and IG instagram reels. Spending on FB feed is 20.05 percentage points higher than on IG feed.

CPC and CPM by placement

The most cost-efficient placements for North America brands this quarter:

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

CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):

Click-through rate by placement

Within the North America brands benchmark, FB feed leads on CTR at 2.2%, compared to FB facebook reels at 1.44%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for North America:

This deck includes a dedicated Finance industry ad-account breakout in addition to the North America regional breakout, so the “Brands benchmark” column above reflects Finance-specific figures while “North America overall” reflects all industries in the region. Finance-specific CPC held in a narrow $0.10–0.14 band across the past year, ending at about $0.13 in Q2 2026 — well below the North America-wide figure, which ranged $0.37–0.53 and ended around $0.48. Finance CPM likewise stayed low (roughly $1.00–1.45, ending near $1.40) versus North America’s $4.65–6.15 range, ending around $6.20. CTR told a different story: Finance CTR rose steadily from about 0.80% to 1.30% over the period, while North America’s CTR climbed from around 1.30% to a peak near 1.75% before easing to about 1.65% by Q2 2026.