In Q2 2026, Accommodation brands in North America saw median Instagram engagement rates of around 3.9%, well ahead of Facebook at roughly 1.8%. Ecommerce dominated overall interaction share on both platforms (Accommodation itself accounts for a modest slice — 0.9% on Facebook and 0.4% on Instagram), while Reels and Carousels remained the top-performing organic Instagram formats and Live Video led on Facebook.
This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 2,225 Facebook pages and 588 Instagram profiles across North America, covering April 1, 2026 through June 30, 2026.
Brands using Emplifi’s UGC solution this quarter saw:
These figures represent the median uplift seen across Emplifi’s Brands UGC Accounts Benchmark for Q2 2026.
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. Accommodation itself shares 0.9% of total Facebook interactions and 0.4% of total Instagram interactions among North America brand pages/profiles.
Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):
| Category | Share of total interactions |
|---|---|
| Ecommerce | 48.3% |
| Services | 10.1% |
| Retail | 7.4% |
| Fashion | 3.6% |
| Sporting Goods | 3.2% |
| Others | 27.4% |
Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):
| Category | Share of total interactions |
|---|---|
| Ecommerce | 33.8% |
| Services | 11.7% |
| Fashion | 8.5% |
| Beauty | 7.0% |
| Retail | 5.3% |
| Others | 33.7% |
In North America, Instagram brand profiles carry a higher median follower count than Facebook pages. The figures below reflect relative values across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026. Note: the source chart for this slide is a bubble/circle visualization without printed numeric labels, so the table below reflects the directional comparison rather than exact figures.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Median followers / fans | Higher | Lower |
| Median posts published (quarter) | Higher | Lower |
| Median total interactions (quarter) | Higher | Lower |
Activity volume is higher on Instagram than on Facebook, while user engagement on Instagram also outpaces Facebook.
Median post interactions track the middle-ranked page or profile by monthly interactions — a measure of typical performance rather than outlier peaks.
| Platform | Q2 2026 median post interactions |
|---|---|
| 24 | |
| 3 |
Instagram median post interactions declined steadily from around 37 in mid-2025 to approximately 24 by Q2 2026, while Facebook held broadly flat in the 3-4 range across the full period.
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, Facebook’s relative median interactions had settled at around 75% of its peak after repeatedly touching 100% earlier in the period, while Instagram declined more steadily to around 65% of its own peak — its lowest point in the period.
Impressions measure how many times posts were displayed, regardless of interaction. This metric is available for both platforms and reflects reach rather than engagement.
| Platform | Q2 2026 median post impressions |
|---|---|
| 1,200 | |
| 420 |
Instagram impressions climbed sharply from mid-2025, peaking at around 4,400 in July 2025, before declining through the back half of the period to approximately 1,200 by Q2 2026. Facebook impressions remained low and comparatively flat throughout, ending around 420.
Median post engagement rates this quarter:
Instagram engagement climbed notably in the final months of the period, reaching its highest point of the year by Q2 2026, while Facebook engagement also ticked upward after holding closer to 1.2-1.4% for most of the prior year.
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 a comparatively lower figure.
Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 27 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 37.
Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):
| Post type | Platform | Median post interactions |
|---|---|---|
| Live Video | 10 | |
| Video | Not separately reported | |
| Photo | 3 | |
| Reel | Not separately reported | |
| Status | Not separately reported | |
| Link | Not separately reported | |
| Carousel | 27 | |
| Reel | 37 | |
| Image | Not separately reported |
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 20% 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.
Facebook — top pages by total interactions (Q2 2026):
| Rank | Brand | Posts | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | InterContinental Madinah Dar Al Iman | 48 | 89,302 |
| 2 | Holiday Inn Dhaka City Centre by IHG | 144 | 88,971 |
| 3 | The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company | 20 | 78,781 |
Instagram — top profiles by total interactions (Q2 2026):
| Rank | Brand | Followers | Posts | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BOLT FARM TREEHOUSE | 760,451 | 311 | 443,254 |
| 2 | Fairmont Banff Springs | 251,924 | 60 | 146,685 |
| 3 | Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa | 644,428 | 32 | 145,674 |
The highest-performing individual posts by interactions across North America brands in Q2 2026:
Facebook:
| Rank | Brand | Post description | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kalahari Resorts – Round Rock | Promotion for an after-hours waterpark event | 47,012 |
| 2 | Thousand Trails | Camping-themed post encouraging shares | 34,317 |
| 3 | McMenamins Pubs, Breweries & Historic Hotels | Promotion of a unique hotel property | 16,672 |
Instagram:
| Rank | Brand | Post description | Interactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BOLT FARM TREEHOUSE | Weekend getaway / couple’s retreat post | 112,556 |
| 2 | BOLT FARM TREEHOUSE | Sunset view from a treehouse deck | 45,842 |
| 3 | BOLT FARM TREEHOUSE | Nearby-getaway lifestyle post | 36,428 |
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.
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.
The most cost-efficient placements for North America brands this quarter:
CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):
| Placement | CPC (USD) | CPM (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| FB feed | 0.60 | 9.30 |
| IG feed | 2.00 | 12.20 |
| IG instagram reels | 2.80 | 9.80 |
| FB facebook reels | 1.00 | 10.00 |
| IG instagram stories | 1.70 | 10.20 |
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):
| Placement | CTR (%) |
|---|---|
| FB feed | 2.20 |
| IG feed | 0.70 |
| IG instagram reels | 0.58 |
| FB facebook reels | 1.44 |
| IG instagram stories | 0.68 |
Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for North America:
| Metric | Brands benchmark | North America overall |
|---|---|---|
| CPC (USD) | 0.48 | 0.48 |
| CPM (USD) | 6.15 | 6.15 |
| CTR (%) | 1.67 | 1.67 |
Note: this deck did not include a separate Accommodation-specific ad-account breakout (only a “North America Ad Accounts Benchmark” was available), so the same region-wide figures are used for both columns above. CPC held in the $0.45-0.53 range through most of 2025, dipped to around $0.37 in January 2026, then climbed back to approximately $0.48 by Q2 2026. CPM followed a similar arc — rising from about $4.90 to a peak near $6.10 in December 2025, dipping to roughly $4.70 in January 2026, and climbing steadily to around $6.15 by Q2 2026. CTR trended upward overall, from about 1.3% in mid-2025 to a peak near 1.77% in March 2026, before easing slightly to approximately 1.67% by Q2 2026.
These figures represent median performance across thousands of brand profiles in Emplifi’s dataset — they’re a useful calibration point, not a ceiling. If your Instagram engagement rate is sitting above 3.9%, you’re already ahead of the median for North America accommodation brands; below it, there are likely content-mix improvements worth testing.
These benchmarks tell you what’s typical across the industry. A personalized assessment tells you how your brand is actually performing against peers.
This report is produced quarterly using Emplifi’s proprietary social media dataset — one of the largest in the industry, drawn from the platform used by more than 20,000 brands worldwide.
Data collection: Data is pulled once per quarter and reflects the state of Emplifi’s database at the start of the quarter following the period analyzed. It is not updated between releases.
Sample: 2,225 Facebook brand pages and 588 Instagram brand profiles in North America, April 1, 2026–June 30, 2026.
Minimum thresholds: Reports require a minimum of 50 Instagram profiles and 50 Facebook pages for a given region and industry combination. Interaction distribution data requires a minimum of 300 profiles. Ad benchmarks require a minimum of 200 active ad accounts from the region or industry.
All costs are in USD. All figures are medians unless otherwise noted. Data is first normalized at the profile/page level before aggregation.
Instagram. Across 30 industries, Instagram posts got higher user engagement than Facebook posts — with no exceptions. Instagram also led on activity volume (post frequency) in most verticals, and ran neck-and-neck with Facebook in the rest. If you’re deciding where to focus organic effort this quarter, Instagram is the stronger channel almost everywhere.
Reels and carousels. In nearly every industry we benchmarked, these two formats drove the highest median post interactions, often by a wide margin over photos and stories. Which one wins first place varies by industry, but the reel-carousel pairing is the consistent pattern.
The Facebook feed. It had the lowest cost per click worldwide, with Facebook Reels close behind as the second-cheapest placement. Instagram Stories was the lowest-CPC Instagram placement, but still came in behind both Facebook options.
E-commerce, by a wide margin — accounting for 37.4% of all brand-profile interactions on Instagram and 27.5% on Facebook. Retail and services follow as the next-largest categories on both platforms, with fashion also ranking high on Instagram specifically.
Brands using UGC saw a 19.88x increase in conversion rate, a 5.06x increase in website visits, and a 1.08x increase in average order value, compared to brands that don’t (Emplifi Brands UGC benchmark, Q2 2026). Conversion rate is where UGC makes the biggest difference.