A Foolproof Guide to How to Get Instagram Data

Before we jump to how to get Instagram data, let's define why it is crucial to do that for any company and why such information helps all types of businesses.

The main advantages of the data scraping process for businesses are the following:

Why Scraping Instagram Data and the Benefits You Could Get from It

So, companies can track the mention of their brands in reviews and comments to eliminate the weaknesses that prevent the business from becoming more productive. Collecting data on the Instagram audience on current trends and topics (taking into account information about influencers by tracking their content) is necessary to optimize a product and/or marketing campaign to attract more potential customers.

Instagram data monitoring

Analyze the product based on comments, reviews, and other posts with people's opinions.

Collect a piece of large-scale information for data-driven decisions.

Obtain data on user profiles to study the target audience, market, or competitors.

Understand the desires of potential customers and adapt the product to their requirements.

Get valuable information that will be useful for developing various Antifraud systems.

Research the industry and competitive intelligence to make a selling offer unique and relevant.

Track the trends and gather valuable information for adjusting marketing efforts and improving the product/service itself.

Monitor the reputation of the company and its rank among others.

Obtain data about the "work" of the product and what points prevent it from being more relevant.

Identify opportunities for collaboration (who are the thought influencers in the analyzed area of business).

When knowing why it is high time to find out how to get data from Instagram. Today, there are many ways to collect valuable insights from Instagram and other social media. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. Let's look at the most popular methods:

There are 3 ways to extract data using the API:

The third option is the most convenient for companies that want to know the opinion about their products, improve services, make the marketing strategy more efficient, and so on. Data365 will be helpful for developing business dashboards, tracking KPIs in social networks, analyzing mood and experience, and getting different data about interacting with customers.

Scrapping data solutions

Web scraping algorithm. This method is useful even if the page's HTML code is changed. You can use the algorithm on all sites with a repetitive HTML structure. Scraper functions using textual structuring of words in HTML code, where the engine recognizes words or variable names. The principle of the algorithm is that the classification of the words, surrounding the search data, is performed on the assumption that the future HTML code of the site will be similar to the current HTML. It ensures reliable scraping.

Web scraper. It is the most simplified way to extract web data. Specify the parameters and click on the necessary elements. You don't need coding knowledge here. You can navigate through all sections of the site (categories, pagination, subcategories, etc.). The main advantages are full Javascript execution, waiting for requests (Ajax), a modular selector system, and scrolling down the page. The system allows the creation of maps for different requests and adapting the extraction of information to different website structures. You could extract data in XLSX, CSV, and JSON formats; scrapers are managed via API.

API-based solutions. It is the fastest and easiest method if you look into how to get data from Instagram in detail. Various sites, such as Instagram and others, offer an API as a service with a high-level interface so that you can directly restore data from back-end databases or repositories. We may say that the API is a set of definite specifications, such as HTTP requests with the designation of the response messages construction. It usually could be done in XML or JSON formats.

Open API is a turnkey solution for extracting information, but there is a downside. Only the company provides technical support, customization, and maintenance services.

The Official Instagram API is a common choice, but the disadvantages here are a lot of restrictions. And you will have to work hard to get permission to use it.

Third-party APIs, like Data365, are complete solutions with customization, technical support, and maintenance assistance.

So, Data365 API is perfect for collecting data on social networks, with Instagram in particular. Here are more details on what kind of data to obtain, how to find Instagram data, and how to get it with Data365 API to show all the benefits of using such a solution.

Get Instagram Deeper Insights with Data365 Instagram API

By using API solutions, businesses can get information from profiles, posts, comments, followings/followers, and so on. But Data365 API allows you to scrape even more valuable data in a real-time format, in addition to the named ones.

Instagram search:

Instagram profiles:

Instagram posts:

Instagram comments and replies:

Scrapping Instagram data

Search for posts by specified parameters: hashtags or locations.

Search for users and collect users' posts for any period of time.

Profile language, account photo, business category.

ID, username, biography.

The number of followers and posts.

A detailed list and content of the latest posts.

Gender and age (approximately estimated based on the profile photo).

Get such types of data as Stories, Reels, Highlights, etc. for a particular profile.

Owner ID & location ID.

Content in posts: texts, languages, list of hashtags, and tagged users.

Engagement info ("likes" count, video views count, comments count).

Download comments (it could be selected on a specific post) and answers to them, and receive info such as owner ID, text, and "likes" count.

URLs of attachments (videos, images).

Get the target comment's internal Instagram ID.

In case you need to get all the comments and replies, you can get the data by adding the parameter "load_comments" to the task for updating post data.

Though the Data365 API capabilities are impressive, there are some limitations to consider. Here are some of them for instance:

The number of requests (such as GET and POST) can't exceed 100 requests per second.

The size of a queue of one type should not exceed 50,000 tasks. If exceeded, the oldest tasks are deleted.

API Features and Limitations

However, you are free to discuss all the nuances and aspects with a team so that Data365 experts help you set the best settings for your project.

You can find the query parameters to configure in the website documentation. Namely, whether you want to get solely profile information, or you are also interested in getting some recent posts, for instance, within a specific data frame, or you need reels, stories, comments, followers, etc.

Here we have prepared an example to show what kind of requests and responses you can get with the Data365 Instagram API.

Let's understand how to find Instagram data using the Data365 API. Apply the ability to search posts by location and hashtags. For this feature to be accessible, you should get a list of hashtags and location IDs. As a result, you have a detailed list of the latest posts with the given parameters. But that's not all — Data365's product allows you to receive much more data which can later be used for in-depth analysis and building an effective marketing strategy:

With Data365, you can create various tasks for automatic or one-time data updates. To use the repeating task, use the following options: auto_update_interval or auto_update_expire_at. In the first one, you can set a specific time interval; the second option allows you to cancel information monitoring after the specified date.

Gender and age according to the profile photo.

Fetch-tagged posts.

The details in the content of the post (language, text, and also a list of hashtags).

User biography with ID, name, photo, and business category.

The number of followers and posts.

A maximum number of posts to fetch.

The number of likes, video views, and comments.

Comments on a specific post (replies to them).

Data365 API is designed to get a clear idea of what people think about the brand or product. It is a real-time information analysis that collects data from reviews, posts, and opinions on specific parameters. The advantage of the Data365 tool is that you can collect data by location, hashtag, and other requests (including language settings). Here are some more benefits of using the Data365 API:

Data365 Key Benefits

Conclusion

You have learned more about how to get Instagram data, why such information would be useful, and what tools can be used for the purpose. It is needed for listening to social networks and discovering influencers, monitoring the market, tracking trends, changing marketing strategy on time, improving the products, and so on. Data365 API is the perfect tool to achieve set objectives and scale business. Contact our experts — sales or customer support — at any time convenient for you to get more information about our API and advice on how to find Instagram data.

14-day free trial period with any technical support provided.

Support and help are provided when any issues occur.

Full compliance with privacy regulations (GDPR).

Live help (assistance) with setup, customization, and integration.

Get access to 5 social networks from one vendor.

Help in finding the best solution with the opportunity to add customized options.

A complex product that is simple to use. All the necessary documentation to work with the API is provided.

Help in setting up the correct parameters of the queries, and so on.