Worldwide Social Media Benchmarks: Beauty 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. Beauty itself holds a smaller but notable slice: 1.9% of Facebook brand interactions and 4.9% of Instagram brand interactions, making it the 6th-largest interaction category on Instagram Worldwide.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Worldwide, Instagram brand profiles carry a higher median follower count than Facebook pages. The figures below reflect median values across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026.

Activity volume on both platforms is higher on Instagram, 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 declined gradually from around 50 in mid-2025 to the mid-30s by Q2 2026, with a brief uptick in early 2026 before settling lower. Facebook held roughly flat in the high single digits 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, Facebook’s relative median interactions had fallen to around 65% of its peak — its lowest point in the period — after tracking close to Instagram for most of the year. Instagram held a bit steadier, ending near 75% of its own peak.

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 near 5,300 in September before pulling back steadily to roughly 2,500 by Q2 2026. Facebook impressions stayed comparatively low and flat, in the 2,000–2,900 range for most of the period before slipping to around 1,300 by quarter’s end.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~2.9%
• Facebook: ~1.6%

Instagram engagement held broadly steady in the high-2% range throughout the past year, while Facebook engagement trended upward, climbing from under 1% in mid-2025 to around 1.6% 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 31 post interactions, while standard Video reached 2.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 44 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 40.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 52% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 40% by Q2 2026. On Instagram, Reels lead post volume at around 47% of all posts, with Images and Carousels each accounting for roughly a quarter, and 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:

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.

Get your free social media assessment →

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 11.1 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 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, 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 Worldwide:

Beauty-specific CPC was notably more volatile than the Worldwide average over the past year, spiking to around $0.30 in November 2025 before dropping sharply to about $0.17 in early 2026 and recovering to roughly $0.21 by Q2 2026 — converging with the steadier Worldwide line. CPM followed a similar pattern: Beauty peaked near $2.40 in late 2025 (above Worldwide’s $2.30 peak) before dipping as low as $1.25 in early 2026, then climbing back to around $1.90, still slightly under the Worldwide figure of $2.10. CTR for Beauty rose from the 0.70s% to about 0.95% by Q2 2026, trailing the Worldwide benchmark, which held a steadier climb to roughly 1.05%.

Get your personalized social media assessment

These benchmarks tell you what’s typical across the industry. A personalized assessment tells you how your brand is actually performing against peers.

Get a free social media assessment →