Worldwide Social Media Benchmarks: Fashion Retailers 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. Fashion Retailers itself captures a modest 4.4% share of Facebook interactions but a much stronger 11.8% share on Instagram, ranking as the second-largest category on that platform after Ecommerce.

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 modestly higher on Instagram, while user engagement on Instagram outpaces Facebook by a much wider margin.

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 steadily from a peak of around 40 in May 2025 to the high-20s by mid-2026, while Facebook held roughly flat in the high single digits 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.

By Q2 2026, Facebook’s relative median interactions had fallen to around 65% of its period peak — its lowest point in the past year — while Instagram sat at a broadly similar level near 70%, also well off its early-2025 high.

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 from around 4,000 in May 2025 to a peak near 12,500 in September before pulling back sharply and settling in the 3,500–6,000 range for most of the following year. Facebook impressions were more volatile in 2026, dipping toward 3,500 in the spring before climbing back to around 6,000 by June.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~1.6%
• Facebook: ~0.3%

Instagram engagement trended gently upward over the past year, peaking near 1.85% in May 2026 before easing slightly, while Facebook engagement stayed essentially flat in the 0.25–0.35% range throughout.

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 25 post interactions, while standard Video reached 2.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 30 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 36.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo remains the dominant post format at around 64% of posts, though Reels are gaining share steadily — rising from near zero earlier in the year to approximately 28% 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:

Fashion Retailers’ ad cost data this quarter reflects a single pooled Worldwide benchmark rather than separate brand-specific and region-wide breakouts, so the figures above are identical in both columns. CPC held in the $0.19–$0.22 range for most of the past year, dipped to around $0.17 in early 2026, and recovered to roughly $0.20–$0.21 by June. CPM followed a similar seasonal pattern, falling to about $1.65 in January before climbing back to the $2.10–$2.15 range by quarter’s end, while CTR trended gradually upward across the year to finish near 1.05–1.10%.

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