Worldwide Social Media Benchmarks: Airport Q2 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 27.5% of total brand interactions — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Ecommerce leads with 37.4% of interactions.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Worldwide, Instagram brand profiles carry a lower median follower count than Facebook pages for Airport. The figures below reflect relative positioning across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026 (Emplifi’s Social Media Landscape chart for this industry doesn’t print exact axis values, so figures below are described directionally rather than as precise counts).

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 for airport profiles ranged roughly between 105 and 150 over the past year, peaking around May 2026 before easing to approximately 120 by the end of the quarter. Facebook held far steadier, hovering in the 35–50 range for the full period with no major swings.

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, Facebook’s relative median interactions sat around 85% of its own peak after touching 100% back in January 2026, while Instagram’s index moved in a wider band — dipping into the high-60s at multiple points during the year before recovering to roughly 75% of its peak by June 2026.

Median post impressions

Impressions measure how many times posts were displayed, regardless of interaction. This metric wasn’t broken out as a standalone chart in this quarter’s Airport report, so no reliable median figure is available for either platform this quarter.

Impressions data wasn’t published as a distinct trend for Airport this quarter — interactions and engagement remain the most reliable organic performance signals available in this report.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: Higher than Facebook (exact rate not broken out separately for Airport this quarter)
• Facebook: Lower than Instagram

Emplifi’s Social Media Landscape summary for Airport confirms Instagram engagement consistently outpaces Facebook, consistent with the pattern seen across nearly every industry this quarter — a numeric engagement-rate chart wasn’t available as a standalone breakout for this vertical.

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 65 post interactions, while standard Video reached 24.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 130 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 149.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 65% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 25% 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 Worldwide brands in Q2 2026:

Facebook:

Instagram:

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Paid performance: Facebook and Instagram ads

Where brands are spending

The majority of paid spend for Worldwide brands goes to FB feed, followed by IG feed and IG instagram reels. Spending on FB feed is 18.7 percentage points higher than on IG feed.

CPC and CPM by placement

The most cost-efficient placements for Worldwide brands this quarter:

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

CPC and CPM by placement (Q2 2026):

Click-through rate by placement

Within the Worldwide brands benchmark, FB feed leads on CTR at 1.53%, compared to FB facebook reels at 0.87%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for Worldwide:

This quarter’s Airport ad-cost charts only show a single pooled Worldwide line rather than a separate industry-specific breakout, so the same figures apply to both columns above. CPC held in a fairly tight $0.19–$0.23 band across the past year, dipping to around $0.17 in January 2026 before recovering to roughly $0.21 by June. CPM followed a similar arc — climbing to about $2.30 around November 2025, dropping to near $1.65 in January 2026, and rebounding to the $2.10–$2.15 range by Q2 2026. CTR trended gently upward over the same period, moving from the high-0.8% range toward roughly 1.05%–1.10% by June 2026.

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