Retail engagement decreased on Facebook, where UGC fell from 0.16% to 0.09% in Q4, while In-Store content increased on Instagram to about 0.32%

Engagement

Reader Note:: The two platforms move in opposite directions on their leading pillar. The published Facebook pair, 0.16% to 0.09%, is a Q4 collapse after UGC had risen through Q2 and Q3; on Instagram In-Store Experiences crosses from the middle of the field to the top over the year. The report's executive summary and its retail chapter describe the Instagram quarters in opposite order — the summary has decrease, increase, decrease across Q1 to Q3, the chapter has strongest at the start, a Q2 dip especially for brand narrative posts, and a partial Q3 recovery. Any Q4 level given here as “about” is read off the report's quarterly chart for this industry and is not printed anywhere in the report: by Q4 the leading theme sat near 0.12% on Facebook and 0.32% on Instagram. The charts carry no data labels, so those are estimates against an axis ruled in 0.05pp steps on Facebook and 0.1pp on Instagram, good to about half a gridline. They are on pages 33 and 34 of the report PDF.
Evidence:: Observed behaviour
Vendor interest:: High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Analysis of 23M Facebook posts and 33M Instagram posts from brands in 16 industries that were active on both platforms between January and December 2025; brand count and selection method not disclosed, and the report does not say how posts were assigned to content pillars or how engagement rate was calculated.

Good for

Comparing yourself against a similar segment, and choosing what to test next.

Saying that one thing caused another, or predicting what you would get.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source never says how this number was measured.
This is an aggregated or average number that covers very different cases. Real results in a particular segment may differ.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.

49%

of WhatsApp users interact with brands on the network multiple times per week

55%

of Gen Z users engage with brand content on TikTok at least once a day

FMCG food engagement peaked in Q3 on Facebook then decreased sharply, ending near 0.16% against 0.33% on Instagram

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Replies to Instagram Stories rose 65–107% across account sizes in 2026

Hospitality engagement decreased on Facebook and stayed stable on Instagram, ending near 0.33% and 0.20% respectively

1.02%

average Instagram engagement rate for the AI-generated creators CreatorIQ tracked in the first half of 2025