n8n · Automation · Apify
Automating Instagram influencer discovery with n8n, Apify and OpenAI
By Rohan Mondal · · 1 min read
Finding influencers by hand means scrolling a hashtag for hours, opening profiles and copying numbers into a spreadsheet. This n8n workflow does it automatically: give it a hashtag and it returns a clean Excel file of creators above your follower threshold, saved to Google Drive.
Start it however you like
The workflow can run three ways: a manual trigger for testing, a webhook that accepts a hashtag and settings from a form or app, or a daily schedule. Runtime settings such as the hashtag, minimum followers and number of posts are set in one place, with sensible defaults.
Collecting data the compliant way
Instead of scraping Instagram's pages directly, the workflow starts an Apify actor run, waits and polls until it finishes, then fetches the dataset. It only collects public data, and the project notes are explicit that the output must not be used for spam.
Cleaning and scoring
- The hashtag is validated and normalised first
- Results are cleaned, normalised and de-duplicated
- Each profile gets a quality score
- Only accounts above the follower threshold (10,000 by default) are kept
Optional AI categorisation
If an OpenAI key is configured, each creator can be categorised automatically, so a brand can jump straight to, say, fitness or food creators instead of reading every bio.
Delivered where the team works
The final rows are turned into an XLSX file with a dated filename and uploaded to Google Drive. Optionally it's emailed as an attachment through Gmail, or appended to a Google Sheet. API keys live in n8n credentials or environment variables, never hard-coded in the workflow.
Related services: Web App & SaaS Development
Want something like this built?
Share a few details and within 24 hours I'll send ideas, a timeline and a free, fixed quote.