Instagram Lead Finder — Email & Phone Scraper + Influencer Data

A production-grade, enterprise-ready Apify Actor built for bulk extraction of public Instagram profiles, business contact information (emails & phone numbers), influencer tier classification, engagement analysis, and transparent lead scoring.

---

Table of Contents

1. Actor Description
2. Supported Use Cases
3. Public-Data & Compliance Limitations
4. Installation Instructions
5. Local Execution Instructions
6. Apify Deployment Instructions
7. Input Schema & Examples
8. Output Structure & Examples
9. Field-by-Field Documentation
10. Engagement Rate Formula
11. Influencer Tier Thresholds
12. Lead Scoring Model & Grade Mapping
13. Proxy Configuration & Best Practices
14. Residential Proxies: Reliability vs. Guarantees
15. Public Contact Extraction Notice
16. Dataset Exports (JSON, CSV, Excel)
17. Apify API & Client Usage
18. Troubleshooting & Status Codes
19. Privacy, Legal & Responsible-Use Notice
20. Heuristics & Estimation Disclaimer

---

1. Actor Description

Instagram Lead Finder accepts a bulk list of Instagram handles or profile URLs (up to 10,000 items per run) and outputs structured data designed for lead generation, influencer discovery, agency prospecting, and market research.

The Actor features:

• Multi-channel public extraction (public web profile endpoints, HTML metadata parsing, and Playwright fallback).
• Contact discovery extracting visibly published business emails, phone numbers, and direct contact links.
• Engagement rate calculation based on recent public posts.
• Configurable influencer tier classification (Nano, Micro, Macro, Mega).
• Transparent heuristic lead scoring (0–100) with letter grades (A–D).
• Live monitoring web server exposing OpenAPI 3 endpoints (/health, /status, /schema, /results).
• Standard Apify Key-Value Store outputs for run-summary.json and errors.json.

---

2. Supported Use Cases

• B2B & Agency Prospecting: Identify creators, verified founders, and business accounts that publicly list business contact channels.
• Influencer Marketing & Research: Categorize creators by follower scale and evaluate real engagement rates before initiating outreach.
• Competitor & Market Research: Audit follower reach, post frequency, and public categories of industry peers.
• Clean Outreach Preparation: Generate deduplicated, standardized contact lists ready for CRM import or email outreach tools.

---

3. Public-Data & Compliance Limitations

In strict adherence to ethical standards and platform policies:

• Public Profiles Only: Scrapes only visibly accessible, public profile pages.
• No Authentication Controls Bypassed: Does not bypass login walls, CAPTCHAs, private account locks, or security challenges.
• No Password or Cookie Required: The Actor never asks for, stores, or utilizes Instagram credentials or session cookies.
• No Predictive or Hidden Data: Does not infer, guess, or synthesize private email addresses or phone numbers.

---

4. Installation Instructions

Prerequisites

• Node.js v20 or higher.
• Apify CLI (npm install -g apify-cli).

Clone & Install

git clone https://github.com/your-org/instagram-lead-finder.git
cd instagram-lead-finder
npm install

---

5. Local Execution Instructions

Build Project

$npm run build

Run Unit Tests

$npm test

Run Locally with Apify CLI

Create your input in storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json:

{
  "usernames": ["natgeo", "@garyvee", "https://www.instagram.com/hubspot/"],
  "expandExternalLinks": false,
  "maxConcurrency": 2
}

Then execute:

$apify run

Dataset records will be saved to storage/datasets/default/.

---

6. Apify Deployment Instructions

Deploy via Apify CLI

apify login
apify push

Run on Apify Platform

1. Navigate to the Actor in your Apify Console.
2. Under the Input tab, supply your target usernames or URLs.
3. Configure Proxy Configuration (Residential proxies recommended).
4. Click Start to launch the run.

---

7. Input Schema & Examples

The Actor accepts input according to .actor/input_schema.json:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
usernames	Array	Required	List of usernames (e.g. hubspot), handles (@garyvee), or profile URLs (https://www.instagram.com/natgeo/). Max 10,000.
expandExternalLinks	Boolean	false	Safe 1-hop fetch of external website in bio to check for public emails/phones.
proxyConfiguration	Object	{ "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"] }	Standard Apify Proxy configuration.
requestTimeoutSecs	Integer	180	Timeout for individual profile requests (10 to 180s).
maxConcurrency	Integer	10	Parallel requests (1 to 10). Lower concurrency is recommended if experiencing rate limits.
respectRobotsAndPlatformLimits	Boolean	true	Adaptive delay and backoff when rate-limited.
userData	Object	{}	Optional campaign or user metadata attached to each record.

Example Input

{
  "usernames": [
    "natgeo",
    "@garyvee",
    "https://www.instagram.com/hubspot/"
  ],
  "expandExternalLinks": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  },
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 180,
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "respectRobotsAndPlatformLimits": true,
  "userData": {
    "campaign": "Fall_Outreach"
  }
}

---

8. Output Structure & Examples

Every requested profile produces one normalized JSON record in the Apify Dataset.

Example Successful Profile Output

{
  "input_username": "@garyvee",
  "username": "garyvee",
  "profile_url": "https://www.instagram.com/garyvee/",
  "full_name": "Gary Vaynerchuk",
  "biography": "CEO of VaynerMedia. 5x NYT bestselling author. Text me: +1 (212) 555-0198 or email press@vaynermedia.com",
  "followers": 10200000,
  "following": 1520,
  "posts_count": 14820,
  "is_verified": true,
  "is_private": false,
  "is_business_account": true,
  "is_professional_account": true,
  "category": "Entrepreneur",
  "external_url": "https://garyvaynerchuk.com",
  "profile_picture_url": "https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/sample.jpg",
  "profile_picture_hd_url": "https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/sample_hd.jpg",
  "igtv_count": 45,
  "highlight_count": 8,
  "profile_status": "success",
  "scraped_at": "2026-09-22T08:00:00.000Z",
  "source": "instagram_public_profile",
  "input_metadata": { "campaign": "Fall_Outreach" },
  "emails_found": ["press@vaynermedia.com"],
  "business_email": "press@vaynermedia.com",
  "email_sources": [{ "email": "press@vaynermedia.com", "source": "bio" }],
  "phones_found": ["+12125550198"],
  "business_phone": "+12125550198",
  "phone_sources": [{ "phone": "+12125550198", "source": "bio", "country_code": "+1" }],
  "contact_links": ["https://garyvaynerchuk.com"],
  "contact_data_is_public": true,
  "contact_extraction_notes": "Contact details extracted from visible profile fields (bio).",
  "engagement_rate_pct": 2.45,
  "average_likes": 45200.5,
  "average_comments": 1280.2,
  "engagement_sample_size": 12,
  "engagement_calculation_method": "Estimated from sample of 12 recent public posts: ((avg_likes 45200.5 + avg_comments 1280.2) / 10200000 followers) * 100",
  "average_video_views": 250000,
  "video_view_sample_size": 6,
  "influencer_tier": "mega",
  "influencer_tier_basis": "1,000,000+ followers",
  "follower_count_at_classification": 10200000,
  "lead_score": 90,
  "lead_grade": "A",
  "lead_grade_label": "A - Priority Lead",
  "lead_score_breakdown": {
    "is_business_or_professional": 15,
    "has_published_email": 25,
    "has_published_phone": 15,
    "has_external_website": 10,
    "is_verified": 5,
    "follower_tier_bonus": 0,
    "engagement_rate_bonus": 15,
    "recent_activity_bonus": 5,
    "total_calculated": 90,
    "final_capped_score": 90
  },
  "lead_score_method": "Heuristic prioritization score (0–100) based on public business categorization, visible contact points, verified status, follower reach, recent activity, and engagement.",
  "error_code": null,
  "error_message": null,
  "retryable": null,
  "attempts": 1,
  "failed_at": null
}

Example Failed Profile Output

{
  "input_username": "non_existent_profile_12345",
  "username": "non_existent_profile_12345",
  "profile_url": "https://www.instagram.com/non_existent_profile_12345/",
  "full_name": null,
  "biography": null,
  "followers": null,
  "following": null,
  "posts_count": null,
  "is_verified": null,
  "is_private": null,
  "is_business_account": null,
  "is_professional_account": null,
  "category": null,
  "external_url": null,
  "profile_picture_url": null,
  "profile_picture_hd_url": null,
  "igtv_count": null,
  "highlight_count": null,
  "profile_status": "not_found",
  "scraped_at": "2026-09-22T08:05:00.000Z",
  "source": "instagram_public_profile",
  "input_metadata": { "campaign": "Fall_Outreach" },
  "emails_found": [],
  "business_email": null,
  "email_sources": [],
  "phones_found": [],
  "business_phone": null,
  "phone_sources": [],
  "contact_links": [],
  "contact_data_is_public": true,
  "contact_extraction_notes": null,
  "engagement_rate_pct": null,
  "average_likes": null,
  "average_comments": null,
  "engagement_sample_size": 0,
  "engagement_calculation_method": null,
  "average_video_views": null,
  "video_view_sample_size": null,
  "influencer_tier": "unknown",
  "influencer_tier_basis": null,
  "follower_count_at_classification": null,
  "lead_score": 0,
  "lead_grade": "D",
  "lead_grade_label": "D - Low-Signal Lead",
  "lead_score_breakdown": {
    "is_business_or_professional": 0,
    "has_published_email": 0,
    "has_published_phone": 0,
    "has_external_website": 0,
    "is_verified": 0,
    "follower_tier_bonus": 0,
    "engagement_rate_bonus": 0,
    "recent_activity_bonus": 0,
    "total_calculated": 0,
    "final_capped_score": 0
  },
  "lead_score_method": "Heuristic scoring model based on publicly available data.",
  "error_code": "PROFILE_NOT_FOUND",
  "error_message": "The requested Instagram profile does not exist or has been deleted.",
  "retryable": false,
  "attempts": 1,
  "failed_at": "2026-09-22T08:05:00.000Z"
}

---

9. Field-by-Field Documentation

Core Profile Fields

• input_username: Original handle or URL provided in input.
• username: Clean normalized Instagram handle.
• profile_url: Canonical profile URL.
• full_name: Display name.
• biography: Visible bio text.
• followers: Total follower count.
• following: Total following count.
• posts_count: Total published posts.
• is_verified: Blue badge presence.
• is_private: Account privacy status.
• is_business_account: Instagram business categorization.
• is_professional_account: Professional / Creator status.
• category: Public business category name.
• external_url: Website listed in bio.
• profile_picture_url: Standard resolution avatar.
• profile_picture_hd_url: High resolution avatar.
• igtv_count: Count of IGTV/video catalog items.
• highlight_count: Count of story highlight reels.
• profile_status: One of success, not_found, private, login_required, rate_limited, blocked_or_unavailable, parse_error, unknown_error.
• scraped_at: ISO 8601 timestamp.
• source: Origin marker (instagram_public_profile).
• input_metadata: Attached user metadata.

Lead Generation Fields

• emails_found: Array of unique email addresses found.
• business_email: Primary public contact email.
• email_sources: Array of { email, source } objects documenting provenance (bio, business_contact, external_public_page).
• phones_found: Array of unique formatted phone numbers.
• business_phone: Primary public contact phone.
• phone_sources: Array of { phone, source, country_code } objects.
• contact_links: Array of direct URLs (e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram, mailto).
• contact_data_is_public: Always true to confirm compliance.
• contact_extraction_notes: Extraction context notes.

Engagement Metrics

• engagement_rate_pct: Calculated percentage rounded to 2 decimal places.
• average_likes: Mean likes across recent sampled posts.
• average_comments: Mean comments across recent sampled posts.
• engagement_sample_size: Number of sampled valid posts.
• average_video_views: Mean video views across sampled videos.
• video_view_sample_size: Number of video posts analyzed.

---

10. Engagement Rate Formula

Engagement rate is calculated based on recent sampled public posts using the industry-standard formula:

$$\text{engagement_rate_pct} = \left( \frac{\text{average_likes} + \text{average_comments}}{\text{followers}} \right) \times 100$$

Rules:

1. Only valid public posts with non-negative likes and comments are included.
2. If followers is null, zero, or unavailable, engagement_rate_pct is set to null.
3. The value is rounded to two decimal places.

---

11. Influencer Tier Thresholds

Tiers are configured in src/config.ts:

Tier	Follower Range	Description
Nano	1,000 – 9,999	Highly niche, grassroots creator
Micro	10,000 – 99,999	Targeted community with active engagement
Macro	100,000 – 999,999	Established authority or public figure
Mega	1,000,000+	Celebrity or major global brand
Unknown	< 1,000 or unavailable	Non-influencer, new account, or private profile

---

12. Lead Scoring Model & Grade Mapping

Each profile receives a transparent heuristic score from 0 to 100 based solely on public indicators:

Signal	Points Contributed
Public business or professional account	+15
Publicly published email address	+25
Publicly published phone number	+15
External website or contact link	+10
Verified badge	+5
Followers between 1,000 and 1,000,000	+5
Engagement rate between 1.0% and 5.0%	+15
Engagement rate above 5.0%	+20
Recent posting activity detected	+5
Maximum Total Capped Score	100

Grade Mapping

• Grade A (80–100): A - Priority Lead (Direct business contact, verified or high engagement).
• Grade B (60–79): B - Warm Lead (Published email or website, established account).
• Grade C (35–59): C - Potential Lead (General profile with partial contact points).
• Grade D (0–34): D - Low-Signal Lead (Private, missing contacts, or inactive).

---

13. Proxy Configuration & Best Practices

In your Actor input, configure proxyConfiguration:

{
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Best Practices:

• Keep concurrency moderate (maxConcurrency: 2 to 4).
• Enable respectRobotsAndPlatformLimits: true to allow automatic exponential backoff.
• Batch large lists (e.g. 500–1,000 items per run) for clean pipeline execution.

---

14. Residential Proxies: Reliability vs. Guarantees

[!IMPORTANT] Using Apify Residential proxies significantly improves connection success rates and helps distribute requests across real consumer IP pools. However, proxies do not and cannot guarantee 100% uninterrupted access or zero blocking. Instagram continuously updates automated rate-limiting thresholds and security checkpoints. The Actor implements adaptive backoff and concurrency reduction to respond responsibly to platform conditions.

---

15. Public Contact Extraction Notice

All emails and phone numbers output by this Actor are extracted strictly from visibly published public fields:

• The creator's public biography text.
• Public business contact buttons exposed on creator/business pages.
• Publicly accessible external links (only if expandExternalLinks is explicitly enabled).

The Actor never infers emails, guesses phone numbers, accesses private settings, or collects non-public personal information.

---

16. Dataset Exports (JSON, CSV, Excel)

All results are pushed to the Apify Default Dataset. You can export data via the Apify Console or API:

• JSON: https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=json
• CSV: https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=csv
• Excel (XLSX): https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?format=xlsx

Pre-Configured Dataset Views:

1. Overview: Core handle, followers, verified status, contact count, and lead grade.
2. Lead Generation: Direct business emails, phones, website, and score breakdown.
3. Influencer Analysis: Engagement rate %, avg likes/comments, video views, and recent posts.
4. Errors: Failed profiles, error codes, and retry diagnostics.

---

17. Apify API & Client Usage

JavaScript / TypeScript Client

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('username/instagram-lead-finder').call({
  usernames: ['hubspot', '@garyvee'],
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python Client

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('username/instagram-lead-finder').call(run_input={
    'usernames': ['hubspot', '@garyvee'],
})

for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item['username'], item['lead_grade'], item['business_email'])

---

18. Troubleshooting & Status Codes

Profile Status	Meaning	Recommended Action
success	Profile scraped and parsed successfully.	None needed.
not_found	Handle does not exist or was deleted.	Verify spelling of the username.
private	Account is private.	In accordance with safety policies, private accounts are not scraped.
login_required	Instagram displayed a mandatory login screen.	Enable Residential proxies or increase delays.
rate_limited	Temporary HTTP 429 received.	Lower maxConcurrency to 2 or 3 and re-run.
blocked_or_unavailable	Security challenge or IP restriction.	Switch proxy location or rotate proxy group.
parse_error	Profile structure changed.	Check errors.json in Key-Value store for details.

---

19. Privacy, Legal & Responsible-Use Notice

• This software is intended strictly for accessing public information in compliance with applicable laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Instagram Terms of Service.
• Users are solely responsible for ensuring that their collection, storage, and outreach practices comply with local privacy regulations, spam legislation (e.g. CAN-SPAM, CASL), and data protection rules.
• Do not use this tool for harassment, unsolicited mass spamming, stalking, or unlawful surveillance.

---

20. Heuristics & Estimation Disclaimer

[!NOTE] All lead scores (0–100), lead grades (A–D), influencer tier categorizations, and engagement rates provided by this Actor are heuristic estimations based on sampled public metrics. They do not constitute financial evaluations, business guarantees, or predictions of outreach response rates.