Worldwide Social Media Benchmarks: Hair Care 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. Within that broader landscape, Hair Care itself — tracked under Emplifi’s Beauty category — contributes 1.9% of total Facebook brand interactions and 4.9% of total Instagram brand interactions.

Facebook interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Instagram interaction distribution (Q2 2026):

Platform landscape at a glance

In Worldwide, Instagram brand profiles carry a median follower count that’s almost identical to Facebook pages’ median fan count for Hair Care brands. The figures below reflect median values across all profiles in the sample at the end of Q2 2026.

Activity volume is higher on Instagram than on Facebook, while user engagement on Instagram also outpaces Facebook by a wide 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 drifted gradually downward over the past year, sliding from around 34 in mid-2025 to around 26 by Q2 2026, with a few months of partial recovery along the way. Facebook held essentially flat and low across the same period, hovering in the 4-6 range throughout.

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 — its lowest point in the period — after holding near 100% through mid-2025. Instagram was more resilient, ending the period around 80% of its peak after dipping as low as the low-80s in between.

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 steadily from around 1,700 in mid-2025 to a peak near 4,100 around September 2025, before pulling back to roughly 1,900 by Q2 2026 — likely reflecting shifting algorithmic reach tied to content mix. Facebook impressions stayed comparatively low and flat throughout, ending around 1,100.

Engagement rate trends

Median post engagement rates this quarter:

• Instagram: ~2.9%
• Facebook: ~2.0%

Instagram engagement held in a fairly narrow 2.2-2.9% band for most of the year before climbing to its high point by Q2 2026. Facebook engagement was choppier but trended upward too, rising from around 1.0-1.4% for most of the period to close near 2.0% by the end of 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 41 post interactions, while standard Video reached a median well below that of Photo, the second-highest format.

Instagram: Carousel and Reel posts lead organic performance. Carousels generated a median of 40 post interactions this quarter; Reels reached 27.

Full organic post type performance (Q2 2026):

Post type distribution trends:

On Facebook, Photo was the dominant post format for most of the past year but has been losing ground steadily — falling from around 68% of posts in mid-2025 to around 45% by Q2 2026 — while Reels grew from near zero to roughly 45% of posts over the same stretch, essentially trading places with Photo. On Instagram, Reel has held a steady majority at around 50-52% of posts all year, with Carousel and Image splitting the remainder at roughly 20-28% each.

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:

Note: Emplifi’s ad cost trend charts for Hair Care this quarter report a single pooled Worldwide benchmark line rather than separate brand-segment and region-wide series, so the figures above reflect that shared Worldwide dataset for both columns. CPC held mostly in the $0.19-0.23 range over the past year, dipped to around $0.17 in January 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 around $2.10-2.15 by quarter’s end. CTR trended gently upward all year, moving from the high-0.80s/low-0.90s up to roughly 1.05-1.10% by June 2026.

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