Looking to get a better understanding of your social media performance data, and how your brand matches up to the competition?

This will help.

The team from Emplifi have released their latest Social Media Benchmarks report, for which they analyzed over 200,000 branded social media profiles, in order to glean insight into average follower growth, post engagement, best performing post types, and more.

You can download the full Emplifi Social Media Benchmarks report for 2026 here, but in this post, we’ll look at some of the key notes.

First, in terms of audience growth, Emplifi’s data shows that brands saw the biggest growth on TikTok, where median brand follower counts rose by more than 200% year-over-year in 2025.

The data reflects the rising popularity of TikTok and its role as a key cultural force. TikTok also drove high engagement per post, further emphasizing the app’s potential.

TikTok is entertainment-focused, so marketers do need an approach that aligns with the platform’s usage and engagement. But Emplifi’s data shows that TikTok does hold significant reach potential for brands with the right approach.

The report also looks at Instagram performance over time, and how organic reach is drying up for all post types on the platform.

Which will come as little surprise to marketers using IG, though Emplifi also notes that both Facebook and Instagram “continue to anchor overall audience scale for brands.”

As per Emplifi: “Instagram shows steady, mid-single-digit median follower growth, while Facebook remains largely flat, reinforcing both platforms’ roles as reliable reach drivers rather than primary growth accelerators.”

Brands on LinkedIn saw strong, targeted growth, “with double-digit median follower gains aligned to professional, employer branding,” while on X (formerly Twitter) brand profiles saw flat to slightly negative median follower growth.

That’s not to say that any of these platforms is specifically better than another, as it all depends on brand positioning and target audience engagement. 

The report also looks at performance by post type on Instagram, with carousel posts and reels leading the way for brands.

On Facebook, live video saw the most reach, followed by link posts.

While on X, GIFs do well, followed by basic text updates.

Most notable in this last chart is that links on X are doing very badly, as X looks to limit the reach of external connections in order to keep people in its own app. It’s also somewhat surprising to see link posts outdoing Reels on Facebook, but this is measuring posts from brand profiles only, and I suspect that Reels posted by people would be outperforming all other update types.

In terms of strategy, the report suggests that TikTok is clearly worth a look, and brands that get it right are clearly generating strong results. It could be worth checking out its Top Ads and Keyword Insights tools to get an understanding of what brands in each industry are doing well in the app, and how that might relate to promotional efforts.

Facebook and IG remain foundational platforms that all brands should have a presence on, and performance trends can help guide marketing and engagement approaches. Meanwhile, X is seemingly becoming more niche, but may still be worth the time and effort, depending on audience alignment.

The full Emplifi 2026 Social Media Benchmarks report is available here (with email sign-up).