Instagram Hashtag Scraper: What You Need to Know?

Hashtags are not just a technique for tagging posts on Instagram. From hot topics monitoring to users’ behavior analysis, hashtags provide invaluable information for your marketing improvement. The only thing is to find the right tool to make scraping easy. At this point, web scrapers and APIs come into play. 

In this article, we will outline what an Instagram hashtag scraper is and how it works, discover specifics of scraping hashtags, reveal the most popular Instagram hashtag scraper online tools, and explore what is the future of hashtag scraping. 

If you want to change your Instagram approach now and forever, Social Media API from Data365.co can make Instagram data retrieving a piece of cake. Request a call with our technical support to learn more about our opportunities for your business.

What is an Instagram Hashtag Scraper and What Does It Eat?

An Instagram hashtag scraper is a software tool that collects data on posts with specific hashtags used on Instagram. In simple terms, it ‘crawls’ the platform for information respecting specified keywords or tags so that it can help the users to monitor the trends, and activity as well as gain some insight about the target market. 

The scraping process as usual includes data collecting, parsing, filtering the information, and then presenting it in any comfortable format for tools like CSV, Excel, JSON, etc. For example, if you choose to collect data in JSON format, here is an approximate result you’ll get:

{
  "hashtag": "#fitness",
  "posts": [{
    "post_id": "12345",
    "username": "john_doe",
    "caption": "Morning workout grind 💪 #fitness #workout #gym",
    "likes": 150,
    "comments": 20,
    "shares": 5,
    "engagement_rate": 0.25,
    "date_posted": "2024-11-05",
    "media_url": "https://example.com/image123.jpg",
    "location": "New York, USA",
    "user_profile": {
      "username": "john_doe",
      "followers": 3500,
      "following": 180,
      "bio": "Fitness enthusiast | Personal trainer | Health & wellness advocate",
      "profile_url": "https://instagram.com/john_doe"
    }
  },
  

How Can You Use Instagram Hashtags Data

There are numerous purposes for using hashtags scraped from Instagram like brand awareness improvement, sentiment analysis, and even machine learning. In addition, this data can be used in the most diverse spheres, starting with e-commerce brands to data science enterprises. Let’s take a look at hypothetical cases of how different businesses can benefit from using Instagram hashtag scraper.

Use Case 1: Trend Analysis for Fashion Brand

One of the fashion brands needed to gather Instagram hashtags to enhance their audience insights, learn about current fashion trends, and increase engagement with key influencers.  
At this point, the brand has pinpointed the main hashtags they wanted to track, such as #OOTD (Outfit of the Day), #StreetStyle, #Fashionista, and product type tags like #SustainableFashion or #VeganLeather. 

When scraping these hashtags, the brand can determine which styles, colors, and types of outfits are most popular among consumers. 
As a result, the brand can then go hunting for high-engagement influencers and then initiate them for partnership. In addition, they started to produce content that is trendy with the latest looks and started their own campaign with a branded hashtag. 

Use Case 2: Destination Tracking for Trip Advisory Company

A destination advisor who wanted to utilize an Instagram hashtag scraper for trend tracking and sentiment analysis, in order to have a clear understanding of which locations are the most popular and whether visitors like them or not.  
The company tracked hashtags like #wanderlust #visitparis #exploreny #beachholiday and #travelgoals. 

The tool also analyzed how these hashtags are used in posts across the various areas of the globe to be able to understand new upcoming trends and even breakthrough destinations that may be emerging. This scraper also tracked the basic sentiment of user posts – positive, negative, or neutral – by looking at the captions of the posts and their comments.

This is how the company could inform users of current travel trends and enhance their recommendations. It also provided more precise promotions by advertising destination trips to the most hot locations.  

Use Case 3: NLP Training for AI Models Creation

A company that builds NLP models for analyzing sentiment on social media leveraged one of the web scraping extensions to gather information on public sentiment around specific topics and trends.
The company crawls Instagram posts for specific hashtags that include #AI, #TechnologyTrends, #NeutralWorks, etc., to obtain large datasets for training to detect sentiments from the public that can be analyzed from social media posts.
This scraper also tracks when the frequency of the tags changes and captures context related to these tags, for instance, what emotions the captions reveal or what topics the pictures are associated with.

The company also tracked touchy hashtags like “MeToo”, “ClimateChangeIsReal”, etc. to train models for tone, sentiment analysis (positive, negative, neutral), and topic categorization.
With its help, the company could also detect something as emerging trends, changes in attitude, or trending movements which can be fed into the AI systems to get real-time updates on trends.
As a result, the company created enhanced AI models that are capable of analyzing the sentiment of the pictures and captions to the posts, comments, and hashtags on Instagram. In this way, the company would be able to track the hot topics and trends and apply this data in areas such as social movements politics monitoring and research, and more.

How to Scrape Instagram: Hashtag Specifics

Many people don't understand how hashtag scrapers function. Scraping Instagram hashtags entails scanning for posts containing a specified hashtag. You can then collect information from these posts, such as captions, photographs, likes, comments, and more. Scraping is the technique of constantly visiting search results pages to obtain data for subsequent studies. However, scraping hashtags has its own specifics, so we find it relevant to talk about them:

1. Data Volume. Hashtags may be used repeatedly in various posts, which, in turn, means that there will be information overload to sort through. New trends can be correlated with hundreds or even millions of hashtags, which makes it difficult to make an aggregative search. In contrast to other sources of information such as users’ profiles or comments, data related to hashtags often contains more redundancy, so noise should be filtered out in this case.
2. Endpoints Access. Instagram has different endpoints to access hashtag data through the Instagram Graph API. Still, some of these endpoints are restricted, so you might need the right permissions to retrieve the required data. 
3. Rate Limits. Hashtags often produce a large volume of results, which can go beyond the allowed limits and lead to IP address restrictions. This is why choosing APIs that provide integrated IP rotation, automatic request frequency regulation, integrated CAPTCHA solving, and proxy management tools is highly recommended to ensure compliance with the limit rates. 

If you are looking for a tool to gather data from social media, using the Social Media API from Data365.co is the wisest course of action. Schedule a call with our support team and get the custom solution to suit your business needs the best. 

Instagram Hashtag Scraper: Online Tools Available

There are a few efficient ways to assist you in scraping data from social media. But which one to choose to fully satisfy your business requirements? Let’s discover each tool so you can make the right choice. 

No-Code Scrapers  

The no-code scraping tools like web scrapers and scraping extensions offer a user-friendly and comprehensive interface so you don’t need to have any coding skills to use them. However, there are issues such as getting old data and struggling with Instagram’s evolving updates when using no-code scrapers. Another issue is limited data retrieving possibilities that make web scrapers good only to gather a small amount of information.

Official Twitter API  

Instagram has made its own native tool called Graph API. This instrument eliminates any worries about the legitimacy of gathering data, offering access to real-time data and compliance with any recent Instagram updates. Still, users should have at least basic knowledge of coding to use the Graph API. In addition, the high cost of the tool makes it unaffordable to use for projects with limited budgets.  

Third-Party API

Third-party APIs are the most beneficial when it comes to their scalability, reliability, and ability to obtain live data feeds. If we are talking about such a reliable and sophisticated solution as Social Media API from Data365.co, then you will get an easy-to-use tool that you can use without any coding skills. 

The product also gives access to real-time public data and offers a wide array of customization features to fit your needs the best. In addition, users can get a 14-day trial period and have instant live support in case of any struggles. Last but not least, clients can choose the most suitable subscription plan to get an efficient yet affordable solution.  Being a responsible data-retrieval solution, Data365 Social Media API requires customers to use data responsibly and comply with data protection laws like the GDPR and others. Violations may result in legal action, bans, fees, and other penalties.

Wrapping Up: The Future of Hashtag Scrapers

Instagram hashtags are becoming increasingly central to how users discover content, engage with brands, and participate in social movements. While hashtags change, they always remain the key to influencing the further course of discussions online, be it social movements, such as #MeToo, or trends in cryptocurrencies, like #CryptoGiveaways. 

For businesses, using hashtag data is an essential feature that allows businesses to monitor these emerging trends, find opinion leaders, and gauge the public mood at the touch of a button. Full disclosure of hashtags gives views on the audiences’ engagement on topics and campaigns, as well as what is trending. Through leveraging Instagram hashtag scraper, future trend detection, and other marketing improvements becomes more achievable for businesses.

So, if you want to keep pace with the latest marketing strategies and make only data-driven decisions, get the best results by using Social Media API from Data365.co. Request a call and get your free 14-day trial now to try your best in retrieving social media data without any charges!