North America Social Media Benchmarks: Auto Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, North America auto brands saw median Instagram post engagement rates of around 4.7%, well ahead of Facebook’s roughly 1.8%. Ecommerce continued to dominate interaction share across all categories in North America, with Auto capturing a modest 2.2% of Facebook interactions and 2.1% of Instagram interactions. Instagram Carousels remained the strongest organic performer for auto brands, while Facebook Reel and Photo posts tied for the best organic engagement.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 464 Facebook pages and 318 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. Auto brands account for a much smaller slice of the pie in North America: 2.2% of Facebook interactions and 2.1% of Instagram interactions.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In North America, the median follower count for Instagram auto accounts is almost the same as the median fan count for Facebook auto pages. The source chart for this metric displays relative bubble sizes without printed values, so the figures below reflect qualitative comparisons drawn directly from the slide’s own caption rather than exact medians.

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 ranged roughly between 105 and 135 over the past year, dipping to a low near 105 around December 2025 before recovering to approximately 125 by Q2 2026. Facebook held broadly flat in the high-20s to low-30s range throughout the same period, ending the quarter near 27.

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 had fallen to around 65% of its own peak (reached in early 2026) — its lowest point in the period — while Instagram sat close to 91% of its peak, down from its May 2025 high but still well ahead of Facebook’s relative decline.

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 surged to two notable peaks — around 9,800 in August/September 2025 and roughly 10,100 in November 2025 — before pulling back to approximately 4,300 by Q2 2026. Facebook impressions stayed comparatively flat across the period, in the 2,600–5,900 range, ending near 2,600.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~4.7%
• Facebook: ~1.8%

Instagram engagement held in a fairly narrow 4.4%–5.5% band across the past year and ticked up slightly to around 4.7% by Q2 2026. Facebook engagement stayed close to 1.3%–1.8% throughout, ending the period near its high point of roughly 1.8%.

Best-performing post types

Facebook: Reel and Photo posts continue to outperform other formats organically, running neck-and-neck this quarter. In Q2 2026, Reel generated a median of 24 post interactions, while Photo also reached 24.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 201 post interactions this quarter — 88 more than the second-highest post type, Reel, which reached 113.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 55% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 36% 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 auto 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 North America auto brands goes to FB Feed, followed by FB Facebook Reels and IG Instagram Reels. Spending on FB Feed is 20.15 percentage points higher than on FB Facebook Reels.

Note: Auto brands in North America clear Emplifi’s 200-active-ad-account minimum on their own, so the paid-performance figures below use the auto-specific ad accounts benchmark rather than the broader North America benchmark (the region-wide figures are shown separately in the Cost Trends table below for comparison).

CPC and CPM by placement

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

• Lowest CPC: FB Feed, FB Facebook Reels, and IG Feed
• 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 auto brands benchmark for North America, FB Feed leads on CTR at 1.58%, compared to FB Facebook Reels at 1.02%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for North America:

Auto-specific CPC ranged between roughly $0.23 and $0.44 over the past year, dipping to its low point in January 2026 before climbing back to around $0.31 by Q2 2026. North America-wide CPC ran consistently higher across the same period, peaking near $0.53 in November 2025 before ending around $0.49 — about 58% above the auto-specific figure. CPM followed a similar pattern: auto ended the quarter near $2.80 versus roughly $6.20 for North America overall, more than double the industry figure. CTR moved upward for both — auto climbed from about 0.85% to roughly 1.08%, while North America’s broader CTR rose from around 1.3% to approximately 1.65% — with the region-wide figure consistently outpacing the auto-specific rate by half a percentage point or more throughout the year.