Instagram Scraping: The Best Tips and Tools for It

Statistics show that the average user time on Instagram is 32.4 minutes daily. Those who don’t post still contribute to this incredibly wide and diverse source of insights by likes and subscriptions, rarely comments. 

Now, imagine how long it will take to find the needed data by simply scrolling through the endless feed. We’re in a needle-in-a-haystack type of situation. Thankfully, there is an Instagram web scraper – a comfortable and efficient tool you can use to extract all the information. However, your options for web scraping Instagram don’t end here. APIs can also be explored as another approach to structured data collection.

After this introduction, you already feel like there’s too much of everything? No worries. Let’s consider this topic a bit deeper and find out what scraping Instagram involves and how to implement it in your business to get the relevant results.

What is Instagram Scraping?

Scraping Instagram data is the process of extracting publicly available data using specialized tools. Generally, it is sifting sand through a sieve. Some particles get through, while others are filtered out. Instagram scrapers parse through social media pages, identify the data that matches your criteria, and compile it for further analysis. This data may include user profiles, follower counts, hashtags, comments, and posts. However, only public accounts can become a source for data collection.

Generally speaking, scrapers provide data you can get manually, but without you spending days or even weeks on gathering and structuring it. They also eliminate human errors like typos or simple inconsistencies. You get only fresh and thriving insights. In this sense, for many businesses from the same niches, especially those operating in the same area, keeping up with every trend and newsbreak is a sprint that becomes much easier through scraping data from Instagram.

How Instagram Scraping Works

Above, we discussed the “front-end” of scraping. Now, let’s check under the hood:

• You provide the URL to what you want to parse, in this case, an Instagram profile or post link. The web scraper starts by accessing the provided webpage link.
• Then, your Instagram scraper retrieves the HTML structure of the page.
• It collects either all publicly available information or specific data points, such as user details, hashtags, comments, etc.
• The extracted data will be delivered in formats like CSV, Excel, or JSON.

Why Should Instagram Scraping and Businesses Be Together?

For almost a decade, people have actively used social media for various occasions – getting in touch with friends and relatives, creating information cases, making news, and influencing minds all over the world. On the other end of this line stand businesses looking for ways to reach the hearts of their potential clients.

76% of people aged 18-29, the demographic group known for their high purchasing power, use Instagram. The group of people aged 30-49 apparently likes Instagram a bit less – 66% of them use the platform, which is still very promising for businesses. 

If the question “Why scrape Instagram data?” keeps echoing in your thoughts, here’s the answer, or even seven answers to be precise:

• Identification of trends, because Instagram is the place where most trends are born these days.
• Targeting users by their location/age/occupation/preferences, name it.
• Enclosing the specifics of your targeted audience.
• Discovering competitors’ activities on Instagram.
• Content generation goals.

All the points are widely required in many areas, including social engineering, digital marketing, sociology, data analysis, AI technologies, business analysis, etc. If you are engaged in any of these areas, scraping Instagram will come in handy for your goals.

What Data Can Be Scraped from Instagram?

Now, let’s check out what Instagram data is worth scraping. Various options are available to parse data that doesn’t require logging in. The most useful among them are as follows:

• Instagram profile public data listed in users’ bios.
• Geo-location data to detect the scope of users in a particular location in terms of time, if this information is publicly available.
• Hashtags.
• The number of followers of a definite opinion leader/blogger.
• The number of likes and comments on a post/event/hashtag.
• Video content and photo content that is posted on Instagram as-is.

All these can be parsed using a scraper for Instagram and analyzed according to your goals. Now, it’s time to highlight some of these scrapers in detail.

Instagram Follower Scraper – How to Get Data About Followers and How to Use It?

Instagram followers scraping is used widely to define the pool of users interested in the same person or a hashtag. It is convenient for social media listening, marketing campaigns, and market research. Thanks to an Instagram followers scraper, businesses can:

• Easily extract publicly available follower details.
• Identify industry trends.
• Refine their targeting strategies for advertising.

Please be aware that user privacy must be upheld by extracting solely public data in accordance with the GDPR guidelines. 

Instagram Comment Scraper: Using Comments for Your Goals

Comments on Instagram are an inexhaustible source of information that makes it possible to highlight trends and determine the mood of users and their attitude to any event, news, or person. By scraping Instagram comments, you can gain information that is not evident but important.

With an Instagram comment scraper, you can:

• Extract insights on customer preferences.
• Monitor brand reputation.
• Track competitor engagement.
• Identify sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral).
• Analyze trends related to products, services, or topics.
• Spot potential issues or customer pain points before they can impact your business.

This data can help improve marketing campaigns, improve content strategies, and make data-driven decisions based on real user interactions.

Instagram Profile Scraper – Analyzing User Profiles and Getting Merits From It

Each Instagram user’s profile is also a source of public information that you can use:

• Username, full name (if provided).
• Bio.
• Gender.
• Location.
• Website link or their other social media.
• Number of followers.
• Amount of posts, etc.

Need something from this list for your research? An Instagram username scraper will come in handy.

Additionally, you can use an Instagram hashtag scraper to stay ahead of your competitors by tracking the most popular hashtags they’re using. There’s also an Instagram image scraper tool that allows you to analyze the most trending content based on metrics like the number of likes and comments. These tools provide valuable insights to optimize your social media strategy and ensure you remain competitive in your industry.

No matter what tool or how many of them you choose to achieve your goals, remember to act and handle public data strictly in accordance with GDPR requirements.

Types of tools for Instagram Data Collection: which Instagram scrapers are the most effective?

For each social network, the process of gathering information varies a little. So, Instagram data scraping has its peculiarities.

You can hold the process in various ways. For some small amounts of data, you can even use manual scraping, but it might not be suitable for achieving any significant goals. The digital era brings a range of tools, offering various solutions for web scraping on the platform.

Online Scrapers

These are basic tools for collecting Instagram data, typically available as websites and browser extensions. Their main advantage is ease of use and quick access to general information. For small local businesses and e-commerce websites, researchers working on small-scale studies, influencers, or those using the tool for personal social media monitoring can rely on them and be satisfied with the results. However, some users, usually those working with wider audiences, find their capabilities limited. 

Due to the platform’s restrictions, an Instagram web scraper that is a simple plugin for your browser usually struggles with data accuracy and can only handle small-scale extraction. Additionally, their performance is often unstable, and the risk of incomplete or inconsistent data is high.

Handwritten Algorithms

Having a brilliant developer at hand is rare, but if you do, you can create a custom Instagram web scraper to parse the data for you. A custom-built tool can be tailored to extract specific data. 

Everything sounds great so far, but this method has an unfortunate skeleton in the closet, too. If, after carefully weighing all the pros and cons, you decide this is the only tool that tightly aligns with your goals, be ready that it demands continuous maintenance, adaptation to Instagram’s security measures that might change, and significant development costs.

API Instagram Data Scraper Alternatives

Instagram scraping tools and Instagram APIs generally serve the same purpose. However, they do it in different ways. Unlike traditional scrapers, APIs provide more structured and reliable options to access Instagram data. You can choose between:

• Official Instagram API that allows businesses to retrieve posts, comments, and insights from the platform’s guidelines, ensuring compliance and stability.
• Third-party APIs that allow retrieval of public information and provide additional flexibility, such as enriched data aggregation, historical insights, and automation features. What is in it for you? You can choose a tool that matches your goals.

APIs differ from scrapers in several key ways. They provide direct access to structured data without a need to parse raw HTML or handle JavaScript rendering. The results come in a form that is easier to digest, which means faster application while the data is still fresh. Finally, coming with authentication and rate limits, they are more secure and scalable options for long-term data collection than scrapers.

When choosing your API, it’s important to consider:

• What type and volume of data needs to be retrieved?
• Does the API return the data in JSON, CSV, or another format suitable for your needs?
• Are the costs aligned with your budget?

Instagram API data mining allows businesses to turn data collection into a process that doesn’t take too much time while avoiding typical challenges they might face with scrapers.

Data365: A Versatile API Tool for Social Media Data Extraction

If you need a reliable tool for public data extraction, Data365 Social Media API is an option to consider. It offers the ability to obtain publicly available data from social networks, customize your requests, retrieve relevant information efficiently, and integrate the data into various applications.

These features are available for a trial period at no extra cost, followed by flexible pricing plans tailored to different needs. Feel free to get in touch with our live support to learn more about how the tool can help you optimize your data collection.

Conclusion

With over 1.4 billion users, Instagram is a valuable source for data mining. You can use Instagram data for different purposes, including marketing, market research, journalism, social engineering, and applied sociology. And this is where Instagram scraping comes into play. If you're looking for an effective tool for extracting data for your projects, consider Data365 API. It offers a smooth-running way ​​to collect and utilize Instagram data for various purposes.