Instagram Creator Lead Finder: Keywords & Hashtags

Turn niche keywords and hashtags into an evidence-backed Instagram creator prospect list—with source posts, public profile facts, clear qualification reasons, and a profile-check budget you control.

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Find creators without stitching together three exports

Searching posts is easy. Turning those posts into a clean outreach list is the slow part: the same creator appears more than once, filters remove profiles after you inspect them, and a high result limit does not guarantee qualified leads.

This Actor combines bounded content discovery, creator deduplication, public-profile checks, and transparent qualification in one run. You choose the niche, the filters, and the maximum number of profiles to inspect.

What you get

Every completed profile check produces an auditable row. Use the qualified-leads view for outreach and the full view to understand where the rest were rejected.

Evidence	What it includes
Creator identity	Username, stable account ID when available, display name, profile URL, privacy and verification status
Discovery evidence	The keyword or hashtag that found the creator, source post URL, post caption, timestamp, and available engagement counts
Public profile evidence	Biography, follower/following/post counts, account/category signals, and public bio links
Public contact signals	Public email, phone, or bio link when the profile publishes them
Qualification decision	qualified or rejected, every applied rule, and plain-language pass/rejection reasons
Optional Reel evidence	Sample size, average likes/comments/views where available, calculated sample engagement rate, and missing-metric flags
Run audit	Searches processed, posts examined, unique creators, profile checks, rejections by reason, Reel analyses, delivered leads, and stop reason

Missing values stay missing. The Actor does not guess contacts, locations, demographics, niche fit, or audience composition.

How output rows and errors work

The default dataset contains one row for every completed creator profile check. Each row is marked qualified or rejected, includes its discovery evidence, and lists every applicable pass or rejection reason. A profile that cannot be checked produces no dataset row and no profile-check event; the run summary records a neutral error instead.

Optional Reel evidence is labeled not_requested, completed, or unavailable. A Reel-analysis event is charged only for completed evidence with a usable sample. Missing counts remain null, never silently converted to zero.

The run summary reports search outcomes, scan and qualification counts, customer billing-event counts, safe error codes, and the exact stop reason. It never includes raw diagnostics or private service details. The JSON and CSV examples in the listing package are illustrative shapes, not claims about a live run.

How it works

1. Add keywords and hashtags. Use plain text such as specialty coffee for Reel keyword discovery and #specialtycoffee for hashtag discovery.
2. Set your budgets. Choose the maximum qualified leads and the maximum creator profiles the run may inspect.
3. Choose filters. Set follower range, privacy, professional-account, and public-contact requirements.
4. Optionally analyze recent Reels. Add a bounded recent-Reels sample and an optional minimum sample engagement rate.
5. Export the evidence. Download qualified leads or review every checked profile and its decision.

Example input

{
  "searches": [
    "specialty coffee",
    "#specialtycoffee"
  ],
  "hashtagFeed": "top",
  "maxLeads": 10,
  "maxProfileLookups": 25,
  "minFollowers": 1000,
  "excludePrivateAccounts": true,
  "professionalAccountsOnly": false,
  "contactRequirement": "none",
  "analysisDepth": "profile_only",
  "excludeUsernames": []
}

Inputs

Discovery

• Keywords and hashtags: 1–10 searches. Plain text searches Reels; a leading # searches a hashtag.
• Hashtag discovery feed: Top posts, Recent posts, or Reels only.
• One page per search: V1 intentionally uses one discovery page per search. Add several precise searches for broader coverage.

Lead and scan budgets

• Maximum leads: 1–50 qualified creators. This is a ceiling, not a guarantee.
• Maximum profile lookups: 1–100 creator profiles, including profiles later rejected by filters. It must be at least the lead limit.

Profile qualification

• Minimum and optional maximum followers
• Exclude private accounts
• Require a professional account
• Require no contact, any public contact/bio link, or a public email
• Exclude up to 10,000 usernames or profile URLs already in your CRM

Optional recent-Reels qualification

• Profile only, or Profile + recent Reels
• Maximum profiles allowed to receive Reel analysis
• 1–12 recent Reels sampled per creator
• Optional minimum sampled Reel engagement rate

The sampled Reel engagement rate is (average likes + average comments) ÷ followers × 100. It is a comparison signal based on the available sample, not an audited audience-quality metric.

Pricing and predictable spend

The primary billing unit is a completed creator profile check, not a qualified lead. A checked profile can pass or fail your filters; either way, you receive the audit row and reason.

Recent-Reels analysis is an optional separate event and is charged only when a usable Reel sample is produced. Search pages, qualified-lead rows, contacts, summaries, and exports have no separate event charge.

Apify plan	Actor start	Completed profile check	Completed recent-Reels analysis
Free	$0.00005	$0.0030	$0.0035
Bronze	$0.00005	$0.0026	$0.0031
Silver	$0.00005	$0.0023	$0.0028
Gold	$0.00005	$0.0020	$0.0025
Platinum	$0.00005	$0.0020	$0.0025
Diamond	$0.00005	$0.0020	$0.0025

Gold, Platinum, and Diamond use the same event prices.

Use Maximum profile lookups, Maximum profiles for Reel analysis, and Apify's maximum run charge to set a hard spending boundary.

Start with a small profile-check budget and increase it only after reviewing the qualification yield for your searches.

Why fewer leads than the requested maximum is normal

maxLeads is a ceiling. You may receive fewer leads when:

• a first-page search contains fewer unique creators;
• the same creator appears across several searches;
• exclusions remove creators already in your CRM;
• profiles are private, unavailable, or outside your follower range;
• a required public contact is missing;
• recent-Reels evidence is unavailable or below your selected threshold; or
• the profile or Reel-analysis budget is reached first.

The run summary reports each count so you can decide whether to broaden the searches, loosen a filter, or increase a budget.

Built for

• Influencer and UGC prospecting
• Agency creator sourcing
• Partnership and affiliate research
• Niche market mapping
• Creator CRM list building
• Campaign seeding and outreach preparation

Export and automation

Use the dataset in JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS format. Run the Actor from Apify Console, API, CLI, schedules, webhooks, Make, Zapier, n8n, or your own workflow.

Coverage and limitations

• Public Instagram data only; you do not provide Instagram login credentials.
• First-page discovery per supplied keyword or hashtag in V1; not exhaustive or global search.
• Search ranking and available posts can change between runs.
• Profile contacts are public observations, not deliverability-verified addresses.
• Linked websites are not crawled in V1.
• Engagement metrics depend on the Reels available in the bounded sample; missing metrics remain null rather than zero.
• The Actor does not estimate audience demographics, location, authenticity, or semantic fit when returned data does not support those claims.
• Use the data responsibly and follow applicable laws, platform terms, and outreach rules.

FAQ

Am I charged for creators rejected by my filters?

Yes. Profile filters are applied after the creator's public profile is checked. Every charged profile check produces a visible row with the rejection reason. Excluded usernames and duplicates are removed before a profile check where possible and are not charged as profile checks.

Am I charged for failed Reel analysis?

No. The recent-Reels event is charged only when a usable sample and calculated evidence are attached to the creator row.

Does this find every creator in a niche?

No. It inspects one live discovery page per supplied search. It is designed for bounded, repeatable sourcing—not an indexed database or exhaustive Instagram search.

Does it verify email deliverability?

No. It reports public contact details and bio links when present. It does not confirm that an inbox exists, accepts mail, or belongs to the creator.

Can I avoid creators I already contacted?

Yes. Add usernames, @handles, or Instagram profile URLs to Exclude usernames. Matching is case-insensitive.

Why use both keywords and hashtags?

Keyword Reel search can surface creators whose captions match a topic. Hashtag feeds provide a different discovery path. Combining precise searches can increase candidate variety, while the Actor deduplicates repeated creators.

Start with a small run

Try two precise searches, 10 maximum leads, and 25 maximum profile lookups. Review the qualification summary before increasing the budget or adding recent-Reels analysis.