Instagram Hashtag Monitor - Track Hashtag Posts & Trends 2026

Monitor Instagram hashtags for new posts and trending content. Get alerts for high-engagement posts. Perfect for campaign tracking, UGC discovery, and trend monitoring.

No Login Required

Your Instagram account stays safe. This Actor:

• Does NOT require your Instagram login or cookies
• Uses our own infrastructure to fetch data
• Zero risk of account suspension for you
• Works with any public Instagram profile

Unlike browser extensions or tools that use your account, we handle all scraping server-side. Your credentials are never needed.

What This Actor Monitors

This Actor tracks hashtag activity on Instagram:

• New posts - All posts using your monitored hashtags
• Top posts - High-engagement posts that trend
• Post volume - How many posts per hashtag over time
• Engagement metrics - Likes, comments, views on hashtag posts

Important: How Monitoring Works

This is a SCHEDULED monitoring Actor:

1. Run it on a schedule (hourly, daily)
2. It fetches latest posts for each hashtag
3. Reports new posts since last run
4. Optionally sends webhook notifications for high-engagement posts

First Run	Subsequent Runs
3-10 min (baseline)	1-4 min (new posts only)

First run takes longer because we fetch recent posts to establish baseline. After that, we only check for new content.

What You Get

On each run, you receive:

• List of new posts for each hashtag
• Post details (URL, caption, engagement)
• Author information
• Filter options for minimum engagement
• Summary stats per hashtag

Input

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
hashtags	Array	Yes	Hashtags to monitor (without #)
minLikes	Number	No	Only report posts with X+ likes (default: 0)
minComments	Number	No	Only report posts with X+ comments
webhookUrl	String	No	URL for instant notifications
postsPerHashtag	Number	No	Max posts to fetch per hashtag (default: 50)

Example Input

{
    "hashtags": ["yourbrand", "yourcampaign2026", "yourindustry"],
    "minLikes": 100,
    "webhookUrl": "https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/123456/abcdef/",
    "postsPerHashtag": 100
}

Hashtag Tips

• Brand hashtags - Track your official campaign hashtags
• Product hashtags - Monitor product-specific tags
• Industry hashtags - Watch trending topics in your niche
• Competitor hashtags - Track competitor campaigns
• No # symbol needed - Just the hashtag text

Output

Full Output (Dataset)

{
    "hashtagsMonitored": ["yourbrand", "yourcampaign2026"],
    "totalNewPosts": 45,
    "newPosts": [
        {
            "postId": "3456789012345678901",
            "shortcode": "ABC123xyz",
            "url": "https://instagram.com/p/ABC123xyz/",
            "hashtag": "yourbrand",
            "owner": {
                "username": "influencer_jane",
                "fullName": "Jane Smith",
                "followers": 125000,
                "isVerified": true
            },
            "caption": "Loving my new #yourbrand products! Best purchase ever.",
            "likes": 8500,
            "comments": 234,
            "mediaType": "carousel",
            "timestamp": "2026-01-15T14:30:00Z"
        },
        {
            "postId": "3456789012345678902",
            "shortcode": "DEF456abc",
            "url": "https://instagram.com/p/DEF456abc/",
            "hashtag": "yourcampaign2026",
            "owner": {
                "username": "user_mike",
                "fullName": "Mike Johnson",
                "followers": 2300,
                "isVerified": false
            },
            "caption": "Participating in #yourcampaign2026!",
            "likes": 156,
            "comments": 12,
            "mediaType": "photo",
            "timestamp": "2026-01-15T12:00:00Z"
        }
    ],
    "hashtagSummaries": [
        {
            "hashtag": "yourbrand",
            "newPostsCount": 28,
            "avgLikes": 450,
            "avgComments": 23,
            "topPost": {
                "url": "https://instagram.com/p/ABC123xyz/",
                "likes": 8500
            }
        },
        {
            "hashtag": "yourcampaign2026",
            "newPostsCount": 17,
            "avgLikes": 180,
            "avgComments": 8,
            "topPost": {
                "url": "https://instagram.com/p/XYZ789abc/",
                "likes": 2100
            }
        }
    ],
    "checkedAt": "2026-01-15T15:00:00Z"
}

Webhook Notifications

Get instant alerts via webhook when new hashtag posts are detected:

{
    "type": "hashtag_posts",
    "hashtagsMonitored": ["yourbrand", "yourcampaign2026"],
    "totalNewPosts": 45,
    "highEngagementPosts": [
        {
            "url": "https://instagram.com/p/ABC123xyz/",
            "hashtag": "yourbrand",
            "owner": "influencer_jane",
            "ownerFollowers": 125000,
            "likes": 8500,
            "comments": 234
        }
    ],
    "checkedAt": "2026-01-15T15:00:00Z"
}

Webhook integrations:

• Zapier + Slack - Alert team when influencers use your hashtag
• Zapier + Google Sheets - Auto-log all UGC for later review
• Make + Notion - Build a content database automatically
• Custom - Feed into your marketing dashboard

Example: Alert for Viral Posts

Set up Zapier to notify only when a post gets 1000+ likes:

1. Trigger: Webhook from this Actor
2. Filter: likes > 1000
3. Action: Slack message with post URL and engagement stats

Recommended Schedule

Use Case	Schedule	Why
Campaign tracking	Every 1-2 hours	Real-time campaign performance
UGC collection	Every 4-6 hours	Regular content gathering
Trend monitoring	Daily	Track industry trends
Contest monitoring	Every 30 min - 1 hour	Don't miss contest entries

Use Cases

• Campaign Performance - Track how many posts use your campaign hashtag
• UGC Discovery - Find user-generated content to repurpose
• Influencer Detection - Identify who's organically using your brand hashtag
• Contest Management - Monitor contest/giveaway entries
• Trend Analysis - Track emerging trends in your industry
• Competitor Campaigns - Watch competitor hashtag performance

Filtering High-Value Posts

Use the minLikes and minComments parameters to focus on quality:

Filtering Strategy	minLikes	Use Case
All posts	0	Full UGC collection
Engaged posts	50-100	Quality UGC
Viral candidates	500+	Influencer content
Top performers	1000+	Partnership opportunities

How Data is Stored

This Actor uses Apify Key-Value Store to track seen posts:

1. First run: Fetches recent posts per hashtag, stores post IDs
2. Subsequent runs: Only reports posts not seen before
3. Updates state: Adds new post IDs to prevent duplicates
4. Per-hashtag tracking: Each hashtag tracked independently

Integrations

Export your data to:

• Google Sheets - Direct integration, auto-sync results
• Zapier / Make (Integromat) - Trigger workflows when scrape completes
• Webhooks - Get real-time notifications
• API - Programmatic access via Apify API
• Download - JSON / CSV / Excel files

FAQ

How many hashtags can I monitor at once?

We recommend up to 20 hashtags per run for optimal performance. For more, create multiple Actor runs.

How far back does it search?

On first run, we fetch the most recent posts (up to postsPerHashtag setting). This typically covers 1-7 days depending on hashtag popularity.

Does it track hashtag post count over time?

Yes! The output includes newPostsCount per hashtag. Track this over time to measure campaign growth or trend velocity.

Can I see the "Top Posts" section from Instagram?

The Actor fetches recent posts which may include top posts. Use minLikes filter to surface high-engagement content that's likely featured in "Top."

What about banned or restricted hashtags?

Some hashtags are restricted by Instagram. The Actor will report an error for these hashtags while still processing valid ones.

How popular can a hashtag be?

Very popular hashtags (millions of posts) work fine but may return many results. Use minLikes filter to focus on quality, or postsPerHashtag to limit volume.

Cost Estimation

Hashtags	Frequency	Est. Monthly Cost
3-5	Every 4 hours	~$15-25
3-5	Daily	~$5-10
10-20	Every 4 hours	~$30-50

Costs vary based on hashtag popularity and Apify pricing tier.

Support

• Telegram: @taskforceorange
• Issues: Report bugs on the Actor page
• Feature requests: Contact via Telegram

Need Custom Solutions?

Looking for custom scraping, higher limits, or dedicated infrastructure?

📩 Contact us:

• Telegram: @taskforceorange
• Website: socialswarm.com

We offer:

• Custom actor development
• Enterprise-grade scraping solutions
• Dedicated proxy infrastructure
• White-label integrations
• Priority support

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