Monitor Instagram hashtag trends and email HTML reports with Apify and Gmail

Description

📺 Full walkthrough video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me4d4BILvHk

What it does
This workflow automatically monitors trending content on Instagram using keywords you define. It scrapes the most engaging posts, calculates an engagement score based on likes and comments, ranks content in a leaderboard, and delivers a professional HTML email dashboard — while storing historical data in a structured table for long-term trend tracking.

No manual research. No tab switching. Just the top-performing Instagram content in your inbox, automatically.

Who's it for
Social media managers, content creators, brand managers, marketing teams, and agencies who need to track hashtag performance and trending Instagram content for competitive analysis, content inspiration, and influencer discovery.

How it works
The workflow runs a full scraping cycle for each keyword in your list:

Instagram Monitoring**: Scrapes hashtag-based posts with likes and comments
Engagement Scoring**: Ranks content based on likes and comments
Email Report**: Delivers a formatted HTML dashboard with clickable links to original posts
Data Storage**: Pushes all results into a DataTable for historical tracking and trend analysis

Requirements

Apify account (free tier works — no recurring cost)
Gmail account for report delivery
n8n instance (cloud or self-hosted)
Instagram Scraper: apify~instagram-scraper

How to set up

Step 1: Configure Apify credentials
Set up Apify API authentication in n8n
Ensure access to the Instagram scraper: apify~instagram-scraper
Install the Apify community node: https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/n8n

Step 2: Add your keywords
Open the "Query social media" DataTable and add one keyword per row. The Loop Over Query node automatically runs a full Instagram scraping cycle for every keyword — no limit on the number of keywords.

Step 3: Configure search parameters

Instagram:
Target hashtags via directUrls
Results type: posts
Time filter: onlyPostsNewerThan: 7 days
Result limit: 15

Step 4: Set up email reporting
Configure Gmail OAuth2 credentials in n8n
Update the recipient email address in the Send a message node
Customize subject and styling as needed

Step 5: Schedule the workflow
Add a Schedule Trigger to run the workflow automatically — daily, weekly, or at any interval that suits your monitoring needs.

Engagement scoring methodology

Instagram
Score = (likes × 1) + (comments × 2)
Focused on recent content to capture trending moments. Carousel sub-items excluded to avoid duplicates.

Performance levels
High**: Score ≥ 10,000 — viral or highly engaging content
Medium**: Score ≥ 1,000 — solid engagement, worth monitoring
Low**: Score < 1,000 — baseline engagement

Results & dashboard

The automated email report includes:
Instagram leaderboard**: Top 10 posts ranked by engagement score
Per-post detail**: Account, content preview, score, level, and direct link to original post
Historical DataTable**: One row per post with keyword, score, date — queryable over time

How to customize

Keyword targeting
Add as many keywords as needed — one row per keyword in the DataTable
Use brand names, product names, competitor terms, or campaign hashtags
Adjust for seasonal trends or campaign periods

Scoring adjustments
Modify the Code node to:
Change metric multipliers based on your priorities
Add recency bonuses for fresher content
Filter out low-quality or spam content

Reporting enhancements
Add multiple email recipients
Export results to Google Sheets or Airtable
Set alert thresholds for high-performing content
Connect to Slack or Teams for real-time notifications

Use cases

Brand & competitive monitoring
Track brand mentions and competitor content performance on Instagram simultaneously.

Content strategy
Identify top-performing posts, discover effective hashtags, and spot emerging trends before they peak.

Influencer discovery
Find creators driving the most engagement in your niche and evaluate potential collaborators based on real performance data.

Campaign tracking
Monitor hashtag campaigns, track sponsored content performance, and measure share of voice over time.

Limitations

Subject to Apify scraper quotas (free tier: ~$5 credit/month included)
Some private or restricted content may not be accessible
Dependent on third-party scraper availability and maintenance