Worldwide Social Media Benchmarks: E-Shop 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 higher median follower count than Facebook pages. The figures below reflect relative positioning across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026 (Emplifi’s landscape chart for this industry doesn’t publish absolute follower/post/interaction counts, so figures are shown directionally).

Activity volume on both platforms is higher on Instagram, while user engagement on Instagram also 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 trended gradually downward across the year, slipping from around 35 in mid-2025 to the mid-20s by Q2 2026, while Facebook held broadly flat in the 4-5 range throughout the 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.

Facebook held close to its own peak (100%) for most of the past year before dipping to around 72% in the final months. Instagram’s relative median interactions drifted down earlier in the period, settling in a similar low-70s% range by Q2 2026 — meaning both platforms ended the period at a comparable distance from their respective peaks, despite very different absolute scales.

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 9,000 in September 2025, before declining steadily to converge with Facebook at around 3,000-3,500 by Q2 2026. Facebook impressions stayed comparatively flat in the 3,000-5,000 range before easing to roughly 2,500-3,000 by the end of the period.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~1.4%
• Facebook: ~0.3%

Instagram engagement eased from around 1.6% in mid-2025 to roughly 1.3% by early 2026 before recovering slightly to around 1.4% in Q2 2026. Facebook engagement stayed flat and low, in the 0.25-0.35% range, ticking up only slightly toward the end of the period.

Best-performing post types

Facebook: Live Video continues to dominate organic performance by a wide margin. In Q2 2026, Live Video generated a median of 15 post interactions, while standard Video reached only 3.

Instagram: Reel and Carousel posts lead organic performance. Reels generated a median of 32 post interactions this quarter; Carousels reached 29.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 63% of posts by Q2 2026, though it has declined steadily from roughly 80% in mid-2025 as Reels gained share — rising from near zero to approximately 28% over the same period. 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:

E-Shop ad benchmarks in this dataset are reported at the Worldwide level only, with no separate industry-specific breakout available this quarter — so the brands-benchmark and overall figures above are the same. CPC held in the $0.19-0.22 range for most of the past year, dipped to around $0.17 in January-February 2026, and recovered to roughly $0.20-0.21 by June 2026. CPM followed a similar arc, peaking near $2.30 in November 2025, dropping to about $1.65 in January 2026, and climbing back to $2.10-2.15 by Q2 2026. CTR trended mildly upward across the period, ending around 1.05-1.10%.

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