Emplifi Finds Instagram Engagement Rates for Brands Are Up Nearly 70% Worldwide

According to Emplifi's Q3 2026 Social Media Benchmarks report, Instagram engagement rates on brand posts are up 68% worldwide and 97% in the US, with shares accounting for more than 10% of interactions worldwide.

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Emplifi, a leading Autonomous CX platform, today released its Q3 2026 Social Media Benchmarks report, revealing Instagram engagement rate per impression reached 1.52% worldwide and 1.51% in the United States, up 68% and 97% respectively, year over year. According to the report, interactions with brand posts on Instagram remained at a steady rate, with 34 median interactions per post worldwide compared to 35 interactions per post in Q3 2025. In the U.S., brands earned 29 median interactions per post in Q3 compared to 30 median interactions per post in Q3 2025. Median impressions per post fell 48% worldwide and 59% in the U.S.

After likes, shares are the second most popular interaction type on brand Reels, carousels, and images, accounting for 12.4% of post interactions within the highest reach group worldwide.

"A like tells you someone noticed, while a share tells you someone cared enough to pass it on. Our data makes clear that brands are building real engagement and are seeing performance metrics that have a measurable impact on the bottom line," said Susan Ganeshan, Chief Marketing Officer at Emplifi. "A share creates an opportunity for a post to become a conversation that leads to a new customer. Winning brands on social platforms use AI to build connected campaigns that autonomously link what they publish to whatever happens next in a personalized customer journey. With AI, brands now have the technology to move at the same speed, and in the same direction, as their audience."

U.S. Instagram engagement reaches worldwide levels
U.S. Instagram engagement rate per impression on brand posts rose from 0.76% to 1.51%, reaching nearly the same level as the worldwide figure at 1.52%. September 2026 was the strongest month for brand engagement rates on Instagram within the 15-month window, at 1.67% worldwide and 1.63% in the U.S.

Median number of saves, shares, and reposts for brands on Instagram
When analyzing median engagement rates worldwide, Emplifi's data shows that brands earned two shares, two saves, and one repost per post in Q3. In the U.S., the median engagement came to one share per post, with zero saves or reposts. Since March 2026, the median worldwide brand post has earned one repost every month, following Instagram's launch of reposts on Aug. 6, 2025.

Shares relative to accounts reached rose 52% year over year worldwide but fell 25% in the US. The findings align with a broader move toward private channels for brands, according to Emplifi's 2026 The Dark Social Shift report, which found inbound DMs rose 76% year over year. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that "sends" on Instagram (when a user sends content to another user via a direct message) are among the top three ranking signals, in addition to watch time and likes.

Paid social click-through rates reach 15-month highs
U.S. click-through rates (CTR) rose 30% year over year to 2.05% in Q3, and 2.09% in September, the highest of the 15 months analyzed. Worldwide CTRs rose 25% to 1.24% in Q3, with September at 1.28%, also the highest during the 15 months. U.S. cost per thousand impressions (CPM) rose 15% to $6.96. In September, CPMs climbed to $8.53, a figure worth noting as brands prepare for holiday campaign budgets.

Reach varies by platform, making engagement per impression the metric to watch
Instagram's reach has stabilized during the past year. Median impressions per brand post fell 48% worldwide year over year, but the decline ended by Q2 2026. In Q3, the worldwide median impression count increased 6% over the previous quarter.

On Facebook, reach metrics are still adjusting, with worldwide median impressions per post down 26% in Q3 compared to Q2. In the U.S., median impressions were down 30% in Q3 compared to the previous quarter. Impressions per post also fell 60% year over year on TikTok. Facebook interactions per post fell 14% worldwide, and TikTok interactions fell 38%, while Instagram interactions held steady.

A full breakdown of the findings is available in the Emplifi Q3 2026 Social Media Benchmarks report.

Methodology
Emplifi's Q3 2026 Social Media Benchmarks analyze anonymized data from 167,493 Facebook pages, 77,038 Instagram profiles and 1,301 TikTok profiles worldwide, including 23,144 Facebook pages and 11,515 Instagram profiles in the United States, and Meta ad accounts. Figures are medians per brand post or ad account, and each quarter's figure is the median of its three monthly values, so it can differ from the quarter-end month figures on Emplifi's industry benchmark pages. Engagement rate is interactions divided by impressions, replacing the reach-based rate because Facebook no longer provides reach data. Q3 2025 figures are restated on the same definition, so year-over-year comparisons are like-for-like, but they are not comparable with engagement rates in earlier Emplifi reports.

About Emplifi
Emplifi is the only Autonomous CX platform unifying social marketing, commerce, and customer care for more than 22,000 brands worldwide. Powered by Fuel AI, built on more than 5T of data, and recognized as a leader by leading industry analysts, Emplifi helps enterprise teams orchestrate connected customer journeys and deliver personalized experiences at scale, turning every customer touchpoint into a competitive advantage. [CHECK: "5T of data" has no unit.]

Press Contact: Jordan Lukes, Corporate Communications Director, Emplifi
[email protected]

SOURCE Emplifi Inc