Australia and New Zealand Social Media Benchmarks: Beauty Q2 2026

What’s in this report

In Q2 2026, Beauty brands in Australia and New Zealand saw Instagram median post engagement rates of around 3.0%, while Facebook trailed at roughly 1.6%. Ecommerce dominated interaction share on both platforms, and Instagram Carousel and Reel posts remained the top-performing organic formats, while Facebook Live Video led on that platform.

This quarterly benchmarks report pulls from Emplifi’s dataset of 216 Facebook pages and 159 Instagram profiles across Australia and New Zealand, 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 62.4% of total brand interactions — the highest share of any category. On Instagram, Ecommerce leads with 61.8% of interactions. Beauty itself accounts for a smaller slice of the region’s interaction pool: 0.5% of total interactions on Facebook, and the 8th-highest share among Instagram categories in Australia and New Zealand, at 1.4%.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Australia and New Zealand, Instagram brand profiles carry a higher median follower count than Facebook pages. The figures below reflect relative standing across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026.

Activity volume on both platforms is higher on Instagram than on Facebook, while user engagement on Instagram outpaces Facebook by an even wider margin. (Note: Emplifi’s underlying chart for this slide displays relative bubble sizes without printed numeric labels, so directional comparisons are used here rather than exact figures.)

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 have held in a fairly narrow band between roughly 20 and 28 over the past year, dipping to a low near 20 in Q1 2026 before recovering slightly by Q2 2026. Facebook median post interactions have stayed consistently low and flat, moving between about 2 and 4 across the same 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, Facebook’s relative median interactions sat at around 65% of its peak, while Instagram was slightly higher at approximately 74% of its own peak — both platforms trending below their highs reached earlier in the period.

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 through mid-2025, peaking at around 5,300 in September before declining steadily to approximately 2,400 by Q2 2026. Facebook impressions stayed comparatively low and flat for most of the period, ending at around 1,300 — its lowest point in the period.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~3.0%
• Facebook: ~1.6%

Instagram engagement has held relatively steady in the 2.5–3.0% range over the past year, ticking back up to around 3.0% by Q2 2026. Facebook engagement has trended gradually upward across the same period, rising from under 1.0% to approximately 1.6%.

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 6 post interactions, while standard Video reached 2.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 26 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 18.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo and Reel are now roughly neck-and-neck as the leading post formats — Photo accounts for around 40% of posts, while Reels, which started the year near zero, have grown to approximately 51% by Q2 2026, edging out Photo as the most-used format. 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 Australia and New Zealand 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 Australia and New Zealand Beauty brands goes to FB feed, followed by IG feed and IG instagram reels. Spending on FB feed is 11.1 percentage points higher than on IG feed.

CPC and CPM by placement

The most cost-efficient placements for Australia and New Zealand Beauty 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 Beauty brands benchmark for Australia and New Zealand, FB feed leads on CTR at 1.28%, compared to FB facebook reels at 0.68%.

CTR by placement (Q2 2026):

Cost trends over time

Q2 2026 ad cost benchmarks for Australia and New Zealand:

Beauty-specific CPC ranged between roughly $0.16 and $0.31 over the past year, ending at around $0.21 in Q2 2026, while the broader Australia and New Zealand benchmark ran consistently higher — between about $0.36 and $0.53 — and ended near $0.45, more than double the Beauty-specific figure. CPM followed a similar pattern: Beauty ended Q2 2026 at approximately $1.90, versus $4.55 for the region overall, its highest point across the full period. CTR for Beauty brands trended upward to around 0.95% by Q2 2026, while the region-wide CTR climbed more steadily to approximately 1.18%, also its high for the period.