Instagram Lead Generator w/AI

Discover and enrich Instagram leads from hashtags. Extract emails, phones from bios, crawl external URLs, and score leads with AI. Perfect for B2B prospecting and influencer outreach.

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) -- you provide your own API credentials.

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Before You Start

This actor requires your own API credentials to fetch real data.

Where to get your key: JSON array of cookies from Cookie-Editor browser extension. REQUIRED for hashtag discovery — Instagram gates /explore/tags/ behind login. Install Cookie-Editor, log into Instagram, export cookies, paste here. Not needed if using Cookie Manager.

You can test with Demo Mode first (free, no key needed) to see the output format before committing.

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Quick Start

Test with Demo Mode (free, no API key needed)

{
  "demoMode": true,
  "hashtags": [
    "plumber",
    "hvactech"
  ],
  "requireExternalUrl": "https://example.com",
  "crawlExternalUrls": "https://example.com"
}

Run with real data

{
  "demoMode": false,
  "hashtags": [
    "plumber",
    "hvactech"
  ],
  "sessionCookies": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
  "cookieKvStoreName": "cookie-sessions",
  "minFollowers": 1000,
  "maxFollowers": 1000000,
  "requireBio": true,
  "requireExternalUrl": false,
  "requireEmail": false,
  "excludePrivate": true,
  "maxLeadsPerHashtag": 50,
  "maxTotalLeads": 200,
  "maxPostsToScan": 100,
  "crawlExternalUrls": true,
  "firecrawlApiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
  "enableLeadScoring": false,
  "aiProvider": "none",
  "aiApiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY_HERE",
  "targetIndustry": "local services"
}

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Required	Description
hashtags	array	-	No	Hashtags to search for leads (e.g., 'plumber', 'hvac', 'landscaping'). Don't include #.
usernames	array	-	No	Direct Instagram usernames to enrich (optional). Don't include @.
sessionCookies	string	-	Yes*	JSON array of cookies from Cookie-Editor browser extension. REQUIRED for hashtag discovery — Instagram gates /explore/tags/ behind login. Install Cookie-Editor, log into Instagram, export cookies, paste here. Not needed if using Cookie Manager.
cookieStorageKey	string	-	No	Key to load cookies from the Cookie Manager KV store (e.g. 'instagram-myaccount'). Use this instead of pasting cookies manually. Requires a prior run of the Cookie Manager actor to capture and store your session.
cookieKvStoreName	string	"cookie-sessions"	No	Name of the Key-Value store where Cookie Manager saved the session. Defaults to 'cookie-sessions'.
minFollowers	integer	1000	No	Minimum follower count to qualify as a lead.
maxFollowers	integer	1000000	No	Maximum follower count (filters out mega-accounts).
requireBio	boolean	true	No	Only include profiles with a biography.
requireExternalUrl	boolean	false	No	Only include profiles with an external website link.
requireEmail	boolean	false	No	Only include profiles where an email could be extracted.
excludePrivate	boolean	true	No	Skip private accounts.
maxLeadsPerHashtag	integer	50	No	Maximum leads to collect per hashtag.
maxTotalLeads	integer	200	No	Maximum total leads to collect.
maxPostsToScan	integer	100	No	Number of posts to scan per hashtag for discovery.
crawlExternalUrls	boolean	true	No	Crawl external URLs to find emails (requires Firecrawl API key).
firecrawlApiKey	string	-	Yes*	Your Firecrawl API key for website email extraction.
enableLeadScoring	boolean	false	No	Use AI to score leads based on profile quality and relevance.
aiProvider	string	"none"	No	AI provider for lead scoring.
aiApiKey	string	-	Yes*	API key for your chosen AI provider.
aiModel	string	-	No	Specific model to use (optional). Defaults: gpt-4o-mini, claude-haiku-4.5, gemini-3-flash, mistral-small-latest.
targetIndustry	string	"local services"	No	Industry context for AI lead scoring (e.g., 'plumbing', 'HVAC', 'landscaping').
webhookUrl	string	-	No	URL to send results to when complete.
demoMode	boolean	false	No	Run with sample data to test output format (required for QA tests).
proxy	object	-	No	Proxy settings for scraping.

*Required when Demo Mode is off.

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Troubleshooting

"API key is required"

You have Demo Mode turned off but didn't provide an API key. Either:

• Turn Demo Mode on to test with sample data
• Add your API key in the input

"API error 403" or "Unauthorized"

Your API key is invalid, expired, or doesn't have access to this specific API endpoint. Double-check your key and account permissions.

"API error 429" or "Rate limit"

Too many requests. Wait a minute and try again, or reduce the number of items per run.

No results or empty dataset

Check the run log for error messages. Common causes:

• Invalid input format (check the examples above)
• API key without proper permissions
• The target data doesn't exist or is too small to track

How do I test without an API key?

Enable Demo Mode in the input. This returns realistic sample data so you can verify the output format works for your workflow.

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Built by John Rippy | Actor Arsenal