Social Media Engagement Statistics for 2026: Platform Benchmarks, Content Format Rates, Industry Data, Posting Frequency, and Reach Trends

In 2026, social media engagement is both more coveted and more elusive than at any previous point in the platform era. The audiences are larger than ever 5.66 billion user identities globally as of October 2025 yet the average engagement rate per post has declined across nearly every major platform simultaneously. Facebook has settled at 0.15% average engagement per post. Instagram fell from 2.94% in January 2024 to 0.61% by January 2025 before partially stabilizing at 0.48% for the full year. X (formerly Twitter) slid further to 0.12%. Even TikTok, which still leads all platforms for raw engagement, recorded a gradual decline from 5.14% in January 2024 to 4.56% by January 2025.

The forces driving these declines are structural, not cyclical. Content volume has surged while audience attention has remained fixed. Average comments per post fell 24% on TikTok and 16% on Instagram, signaling a broad shift from active to passive engagement. More users are watching, saving, and sharing privately through direct messages forms of engagement that do not register in public metrics. LinkedIn stands as the notable exception: its median engagement rate grew from 6.00% in January 2024 to 8.01% by January 2025, driven by low content saturation and a highly professional user base where only 1% of users post regularly.

Despite declining headline rates, the volume of engagement being generated has never been higher. Instagram Reels are played over 140 billion times daily across Instagram and Facebook combined, with 2025 estimates reaching 200 billion. TikTok shares per post increased 45% year over year. Engagements on Meta platforms grew 9% on Facebook and 28% on Instagram in 2024. The average social media user now spends 18 hours and 36 minutes per week on social platforms more than one full waking day. Every additional minute that users spend on these platforms is a potential engagement opportunity for brands, and the data on which content formats, posting frequencies, and platform strategies deliver the highest engagement rates has never been more precise.

This article compiles over 70 social media engagement statistics for 2026, drawn from more than 30 distinct primary sources. Data is organized across 10 thematic sections covering cross-platform engagement benchmarks, Instagram content format rates, TikTok engagement data, LinkedIn engagement trends, Facebook engagement benchmarks, posting frequency effects, reach and impression statistics, industry-specific data, audience and behavioral patterns, and geographic findings. All figures are drawn from publicly available data published within the last two years.

Scope and Methodology

Includes only publicly available social media engagement statistics relevant for 2026.
Based on the latest figures published within the last two years.
Sources include primary research, first-party platform data, institutional studies, and industry reports.
Each statistic is listed separately with its original source and study context.
No estimates, forecasts, interpretations, or recommendations are included.

Key Social Media Engagement Statistics for 2026

TikTok’s average engagement rate per post is 3.70% in 2025, up 49% year over year, based on an analysis of 70 million social media posts from January 2024 through December 2025 by Socialinsider.
Instagram’s average engagement rate per post is 0.48% in 2025, staying almost flat year over year, based on an analysis of 70 million posts from January 2024 through December 2025 by Socialinsider.
Facebook’s average engagement rate per post is 0.15% in 2025, dipping in early 2025 and declining gradually throughout the year, based on an analysis of 70 million posts from January 2024 through December 2025 by Socialinsider.
X (formerly Twitter) engagement rate declined from 0.15% in 2024 to 0.12% in 2025, based on an analysis of 70 million posts by Socialinsider.
LinkedIn leads all platforms with an average engagement rate of 6.50% across the 12-month period from January 2024 to January 2025, growing from 6.00% in January 2024 to 8.01% by January 2025, based on an analysis by Buffer.
Average comments per post fell 24% on TikTok and 16% on Instagram year over year, signaling a broad shift toward passive engagement behaviors such as saves and shares, based on an analysis of 70 million posts by Socialinsider.
TikTok shares per post increased 45% year over year, while Instagram shares increased 12%, reflecting growing private sharing behavior despite declining public comment rates, based on an analysis by Socialinsider.
Engagements on Facebook and Instagram grew 9% and 28% respectively in 2024, despite declining per-post engagement rates, reflecting volume growth outpacing rate growth, based on the 2025 Sprout Social Content Benchmarks Report cited by Sprout Social.
The average social media engagement rate across all platforms is 1.4% to 2.8% depending on the platform, based on data cited by Hootsuite.
Instagram’s median engagement rate fell from 2.94% in January 2024 to 0.61% by January 2025, a change attributed to broader behavioral shifts rather than platform decline, based on analysis by Buffer.

Cross-Platform Engagement Benchmarks

The all-industry median engagement rate across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter fell in 2025, with declines recorded in Sports Teams, Higher Education, and Influencer categories, based on an analysis of more than 4 million posts and 9 billion interactions across 14 industries by Rival IQ.
Food and Beverage brands saw a small engagement gain in 2025 while Financial Services held steady, making them the only tracked industries to not record year-over-year declines on Facebook, based on the 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report by Rival IQ.
Higher Education and Influencer accounts consistently paired moderate posting frequency with strong engagement, outperforming industries that posted more frequently, based on the 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report by Rival IQ.
The average social media engagement rate across all industries stands at approximately 2.8% as of Q4 2024, based on data cited by Opensend.
Brands saw a 20% increase in average inbound engagements in 2024, and brands published an average of 9.5 social posts per day across networks in 2024, a slight dip from 2023, based on the 2025 Sprout Social Content Benchmarks Report cited by Sprout Social.
A good engagement rate benchmark by platform in 2025 is: LinkedIn 3% to 3.5%, Instagram 0.45% to 0.6%, Facebook 0.06% to 0.2%, and X 0.04% to 0.15%, based on benchmarks published by Adobe Express.
TikTok generally shows the highest engagement rates at 5% to 9% average on top-performing content, followed by Instagram at 1% to 3%, LinkedIn at 2% to 5% for B2B content, and Facebook at 0.15% to 0.25%, based on aggregated industry data cited by Social Rails.
North America brands average 9.5 posts per day, with Instagram leading in daily engagement at 27 average daily engagements per post, while TikTok lags at just 4 in the North American region, based on regional data from the 2025 Sprout Social Content Benchmarks Report cited by Sprout Social.

Instagram Content Format Statistics

Instagram’s average engagement rate in the first half of 2025 was 0.45%, down 24.1% year over year, based on an analysis of 31 million Instagram posts from 2023 through 2024 published by Socialinsider Instagram Benchmarks 2025.
Carousel posts achieve the highest engagement on Instagram with an average engagement rate of 10.15% by post type, outperforming Reels at 0.45% and image posts at 0.35%, based on data cited by Metricool.
Carousels drive 12% more engagement than Reels and approximately twice as much engagement as single-image posts, based on data published by Digital Web Solutions.
Instagram Reels achieve an average engagement rate of 1.23% per post, compared to photo posts at 0.70% and carousel albums at 0.99%, based on data from Teleprompter.com.
Instagram influencer Reels see an average engagement rate of 2.08%, the highest of any content type on the platform among influencer accounts, followed by carousel posts at 1.7% and photo posts at 1.17%, based on Sprout Social influencer data cited by Sprout Social.
Reels reach approximately 36% more users than carousels and 125% more than photo posts on average, and nearly 45% of total Instagram engagement occurs on Reels content, based on data from Teleprompter.com.
Instagram Reels between 60 and 90 seconds consistently deliver the highest engagement rates, while Reels under 30 seconds are ideal for reaching new audiences and Reels from 30 to 90 seconds perform better for existing audiences, based on data from Socialinsider Social Media Video Statistics 2025.
23.8% of users stopped watching after the first Instagram Story in 2025, with exit rates decreasing to 20.5% on the second Story and 18.5% on the third Story, based on SocialInsider data cited by Wizishop Instagram Statistics.
Instagram video views grew 29% year over year, a more pronounced growth rate than TikTok’s 3% video view growth in the same period, based on analysis of 70 million posts by Socialinsider.

TikTok Engagement Statistics

TikTok’s median engagement rate declined gradually from 5.14% in January 2024 to 4.56% by January 2025, as increased competition from Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and brand content reduced the platform’s differentiation in authentic engagement, based on analysis by Buffer.
TikTok still outperforms every other social platform for engagement and recorded notable growth in shares per post, increasing 45% year over year, based on an analysis of 70 million posts by Socialinsider.
TikTok engagement rates continued to fall across most tracked industries in 2025, with Fashion, Food and Beverage, and Sports Teams seeing the biggest drops, while Higher Education maintained the highest engagement rates with modest posting activity, based on the 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report by Rival IQ.
TikTok has a 2.5% average engagement rate across all account sizes, representing the highest rate of any social media platform when measured consistently across both large and small accounts, based on data from Metricool.
Two-minute TikTok videos achieve the best combination of engagement and views, while smaller TikTok accounts consistently outperform larger accounts on per-post engagement rates, based on data from Socialinsider Social Media Video Statistics 2025.
Educational institutions on TikTok saw 2.28% weekly follower growth in Q1 2025, the highest tracked weekly growth of any industry on any platform, based on data from Hootsuite Industry Benchmarks 2025.
In the education industry, TikTok videos perform best with a 2.3% engagement rate, and the highest engagement rate of 2.94% for education brands is achieved with a weekly posting frequency of 5 posts, based on data from Hootsuite Industry Benchmarks 2025.

LinkedIn Engagement Statistics

LinkedIn’s median engagement rate grew from 6.00% in January 2024 to 8.01% by January 2025, attributed to low content saturation given that only 1% of LinkedIn users post content regularly, based on analysis by Buffer.
LinkedIn video content saw a 36% increase in views year over year in 2025, and video content on LinkedIn is shared 20 times more than any other content type on the platform, based on data cited by Martal.
LinkedIn images typically result in a 2x higher comment rate, video gets 5x more engagement, and LinkedIn Live Video gets 24x more engagement than other content formats, based on data from LinkedIn cited by Smart Insights.
Text posts drive the most engagement on LinkedIn overall, outperforming UGC, images, videos, and influencer content in terms of impressions and replies, based on the 2024 Sprout Social Social Media Content Strategy Report cited by Sprout Social.
LinkedIn drives a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74%, nearly three times higher than Twitter and Facebook combined, based on data cited by Sprout Social LinkedIn Statistics.
The consumer goods and retail sector achieves a 3.9% engagement rate on LinkedIn, the highest of any tracked industry on that platform, while the education sector achieves 2.8% and financial services achieves 3.8% average engagement, based on January 2025 industry data from Hootsuite cited by Enrich Labs.
Average comments on X (Twitter) increased 107% year over year and LinkedIn comments grew 37% year over year in 2025, making both platforms stand out for comment growth despite TikTok and Instagram recording per-post comment declines, based on data cited by Hootsuite.

Facebook Engagement Statistics

Facebook’s average engagement rate per post dipped in early 2025 and declined gradually throughout the year, settling at 0.15% across all industries, based on an analysis of 70 million posts by Socialinsider.
Facebook engagement rate for retail brands averages 0.09% in 2025, significantly below the overall Facebook average, reflecting the platform’s declining effectiveness for retail-focused organic content, based on data from Opensend.
In the entertainment and media industry on Facebook, the highest engagement rate of 1.75% is achieved with a weekly posting frequency of just 2 posts, demonstrating that lower frequency with higher quality outperforms high-volume publishing on Facebook, based on data from Hootsuite Industry Benchmarks 2025.
Facebook Reels between 90 and 120 seconds achieve the best engagement for business accounts, and accounts with 100,000 or more followers average just 0.20% Facebook Reels engagement, based on data from Socialinsider Social Media Video Statistics 2025.
Alcohol brands on Facebook achieved a 72.5% engagement boost in 2025 even as brands in that category posted 40% less often, demonstrating the inverse relationship between posting frequency and per-post engagement on the platform, based on the 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report by Rival IQ.
Video posts on Facebook are shared most widely among all post types, and in the entertainment and media industry, Facebook albums perform best at 2.6% engagement, based on data from Hootsuite Industry Benchmarks 2025.
Meta platforms reported that Instagram’s reach rate is approximately double Facebook’s, with Instagram achieving a 3.50% average reach rate compared to Facebook’s 1.65% in 2025, based on an analysis of Facebook and Instagram posts published May 2024 through May 2025 by Socialinsider.

Posting Frequency and Timing Statistics

Brands post an average of 5 posts per week on both Instagram and TikTok in 2025, based on an analysis of 70 million posts by Socialinsider.
Posting 2 to 3 times weekly on Instagram drives an average 19% follower growth, while posting 10 or more times per week boosts growth by approximately 79%, based on an analysis of 700 million posts from 28 million influencer accounts by Metricool cited by Metricool.
93.5% of Instagram accounts publish only once per week or less, and this posting frequency is linked to an average 2% yearly follower loss, based on Metricool research cited by Metricool.
The best overall time to post on social media in 2025 is 12 PM on Fridays, with Instagram’s peak time globally at 8 PM, and TikTok’s peak window between 7 AM and 11 AM on Thursdays, based on data from Hootsuite cited by Enrich Labs.
The best time to post on Instagram is 3 PM based on Buffer’s analysis of after which the platform’s algorithm favors newer content, and the best days for Instagram posting are Wednesdays and Fridays, based on research by Buffer.
For the first time in three years, median posting frequency on Instagram decreased slightly in 2025, signaling that brands are prioritizing content quality over volume, based on the 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report by Rival IQ.
In the education industry on LinkedIn, the highest engagement rate of 2.95% is achieved with a weekly posting frequency of 2 to 3 posts, while posting more frequently does not improve engagement, based on data from Hootsuite Industry Benchmarks 2025.

Reach and Impression Statistics

Instagram has a 12% year-over-year decrease in reach in 2025, with an average reach rate of 3.50%, which is still double Facebook’s average reach rate of 1.65%, based on an analysis of Facebook and Instagram posts published May 2024 through May 2025 by Socialinsider.
Instagram Reels have the highest reach rate of approximately 37.87% of all Instagram content types, with Reels achieving twice the average impression rate of other formats, based on data cited by Metricool.
Instagram Reels reach approximately 30.8% of followers on average, roughly double the reach of carousel posts at 14.5% and more than double single-image posts at 13.1%, based on a Socialinsider study cited by Stackinfluence.
For brands with large audiences, a good reach benchmark is approximately 8% for an Instagram post and 1% for an Instagram Story, while for Facebook a good reach would be around 6%, based on research by Socialinsider.
Instagram engagement rate by reach is 3.00% on average in 2025, while Facebook engagement rate by reach records a maximum of only 1.20%, based on an analysis of Facebook and Instagram posts published May 2024 through May 2025 by Socialinsider.
The average X post received 2,121 impressions in 2025, up from 1,206 impressions in 2023, representing a 76% improvement in average impressions per post over two years, based on data cited by Hootsuite.
84% of social media sharing occurs through dark social channels such as private messaging apps, email, and SMS that do not register in public engagement metrics, meaning measured engagement rates represent a fraction of actual content sharing, based on analysis cited by Numentechnology.

Industry-Specific Statistics

In the financial services industry on Instagram, the average engagement rate is 3.8%, and financial services brands held steady in their Facebook engagement rates in 2025, one of only two industries to avoid year-over-year decline, based on Hootsuite data cited by Enrich Labs.
In the education industry on Instagram, the highest engagement rate of 4.52% is achieved with a weekly posting frequency of 2 to 3 posts, making education the top-performing industry for Instagram engagement, based on data from Hootsuite Industry Benchmarks 2025.
Retail and home decor brands on Instagram saw engagement rate declines of nearly 30% in 2025, among the sharpest declines of any tracked industry, based on the 2025 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report by Rival IQ.
In the dining and hospitality industry, LinkedIn achieves a 3.9% engagement rate, the highest of any industry on any platform in Hootsuite’s January 2025 industry benchmark data, based on data cited by Enrich Labs.
In the media and entertainment industry, Instagram achieves a 3.0% engagement rate and TikTok achieves 1.8%, while the entertainment and media industry posts on Facebook the most frequently at 10.8 times per week, based on Hootsuite industry data cited by Enrich Labs.
Instagram leads with average engagement rates of 1.16% for retail brands in 2025, while Pinterest delivers 1.4% engagement for product-based content and TikTok shows between 3% and 5% for successful retail campaigns, based on data from Opensend.
Fashion retailers outperform electronics stores in social media engagement by approximately 0.7 percentage points on Instagram, while luxury brands typically achieve 1.5% to 2.5% engagement versus everyday consumer goods at 0.8% to 1.2%, based on data from Opensend.

Audience and Behavioral Statistics

62.8% of content marketers reported traffic growth between 2024 and 2025, with engagement quality increasingly measured by saves, shares, and click-throughs rather than raw like counts, based on a 2025 analysis cited by Oliver Munro.
80% of social media users would rather watch a live video from a brand than read a blog post, and over 1 million people watch Instagram Live videos daily, based on data cited by Metricool.
73% of consumers aged 18 to 34 have made purchases directly through social media platforms, making them the most commercially active demographic for engagement-to-purchase conversion, based on data from Opensend.
28% of Gen Z Instagram users exchange Instagram handles over phone numbers when meeting someone new, reflecting the platform’s deepening role as a social identity tool, based on data cited by Metricool.
Highest eCommerce engagement rates on social media occur on Sundays at 5.8%, followed by Fridays at 4.5%, with Saturdays showing the lowest engagement rate at 3.2%, based on data from Opensend.
Posts with at least one hashtag achieve approximately 12.6% higher reach than those with none on Instagram, based on research cited by Cool Nerds Marketing.
Posts published during peak shopping hours of 7 to 9 PM on weekdays achieve 20% to 35% higher engagement than those published outside those windows, based on studies cited by Opensend.

Geographic and Regional Statistics

EMEA brands post more frequently on average at 12 posts per day versus North America’s 9.5 posts per day, yet North America’s Instagram posts generate higher average daily engagement per post, based on regional data from the 2025 Sprout Social Content Benchmarks Report cited by Sprout Social.
Government accounts in North America see the highest inbound social media engagement overall at 3,158 average engagements per account, while the automotive sector receives the least at just 2 average daily inbound engagements, based on data from the 2025 Sprout Social Content Benchmarks Report cited by Sprout Social.
Vietnam’s TikTok daily active users grew 39% year over year in 2025, while Indonesia ranked among the top five globally for Instagram Stories usage with 81% of users posting weekly, based on data cited by SQ Magazine.
Instagram usage in Africa rose 28% year over year in 2025, while the Middle East saw LinkedIn adoption grow 42%, making LinkedIn a key engagement tool for cross-border B2B content in that region, based on data cited by SQ Magazine.
The Philippines leads globally in daily average social media time per user at 4 hours and 5 minutes per day, while Latin America leads regionally in overall social media engagement rates, based on data cited by SQ Magazine.
Users aged 25 to 34 years old made up the biggest share of Instagram’s global advertising audience at 33% as of January 2025, based on Meta data cited by DataReportal.
Instagram influencers’ top-performing countries by total engagements in 2024 varied by region, with high-engagement markets including Brazil, India, and the United States, while nano-influencers representing 76.86% of all Instagram influencer accounts are most commonly found in micro-niche regional communities, based on Sprout Social Influencer Marketing platform data cited by Sprout Social.

References

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