Instagram follower exporter tools are a category of simple apps that can help your social media marketing campaigns. While they aren’t as intuitive and comprehensive as full SMM platforms, they still serve a specific function. As the name implies, they allow you to create lists of account followers as well as people you follow on Instagram.
In this post, I’ll analyze some of the best tools and methods for scraping IG followers. As I’ve used most of these apps, I can provide you with valuable insights you won’t find anywhere else!
Every once in a while, you’ll want to extract a list of your Instagram followers. These lists can serve numerous functions and help you tweak your content strategy. They give you a clear breakdown of your fans and provide other valuable data you can benefit from down the line.
Besides extracting followers, most of these tools allow you to create lists of people you follow. By comparing the two lists, you can find users who can potentially become your followers or unfollow those who don’t follow you back.
These tools are especially great if you use them over time. For example, you can extract a follower list every month or every few months and compare results with the previous period. That way, you can assess your growth and tweak your strategy if necessary.
How Do They Work?
The tools I’ll mention in this article are all very different, but these programs work under a simple premise, and you can use most of them without any limits. As such, they are great for occasional data scraping from various online sources and using the information for your own decision-making.
Are These Safe to Use? Won’t Instagram Ban My Account?
Instagram is very strict when it comes to data scraping. The platform severely punishes anyone who tries to use this information for their own gain, even if you’re collecting data from your personal profile. Because of that, people are generally reluctant to use these tools as they fear potential repercussions.
However, you’ll be happy to hear that most of these apps are quite reliable and safe to use. Programs that collect data directly from Instagram use a special mechanism that limits how much information you can scrape per minute. However, as with anything, there is always an inherent risk, so this is my disclaimer that there is never any guarantee that any tool is 100% safe, with the exception of the first three of six methods I will detail below.
There are numerous reasons why you’d want to use this kind of software:
- IG exporter tools allow you to analyze your followers. You can find influencers that follow you, monitor demographic trends, and analyze channel growth over time.
- These tools can also be used for competitive analysis. You can use them to extract data from other profiles and use this information to modify your own strategy.
- With tools such as Phantombuster, you can create custom audiences. The software helps you obtain public email addresses from Instagram users by tapping into their profiles. Later on, you can use this data for lead generation through social media advertising.
- Some people simply use these tools to create a data backup. You can introduce the lists into your CRM and utilize the followers for other campaigns.
Obviously, there’s much more to these tools than simple data scraping. You can use the information on these lists to track the growth of your follower base and use different conversion tactics. They can also serve for competitive analysis and influencer marketing.
6 Ways to Get a Complete List of Your Instagram Followers
Using these third-party tools is the best way to export followers and gain valuable insights. However, there are many other methods you can use for this particular purpose. In the following section, I will share several tricks to streamline the export process that will help you make informed decisions regarding your follower base.
Meta Account Center allows you to manage followers and gain other valuable insights into your social media strategy. The platform works for Instagram and Facebook (Meta) and allows you to use the same set of personal data to log into both websites. The software is also valuable if you want to manage your shopping and personalization options.
Among other things, this amazing IG tool allows you to export a follower list. The issue in this particular case is that the program only allows JSON and HTML export formats, which can sometimes be clunky and will look exactly like this sample below:
Because of that, many people prefer using specialized IG follower export tools as they allow CSV file format downloads.
Nevertheless, many people still utilize the Meta Account Center because of its added features. Given that this powerful tool was made by Meta themselves, it’s 100% safe and reliable.
2. Hire a Virtual Assistant
Of course, you can always hire someone to go through the list of followers and copy-paste entries one by one. In fact, this is how people did things back in the day before we had access to all these insightful tools. Keep in mind that the assistant does not even need to have access to your user profile as followers and following data are all public, assuming your profile is public.
Using this approach is especially great if you want to perform some other tasks along the way. For example, hiring a virtual assistant allows better follower filtering (if you’re trying to create a list with a specific category of users). The right expert can also provide other insights and make informed marketing decisions.
Avoiding these tools is important for influencers who want to perform safe scraping and avoid data collection from third-party sites. It especially works well if you have just a couple of hundred followers.
As you can presume, the biggest issue with this approach is that it’s too slow. Using followers export tool is simply much faster and will significantly boost your marketing efforts. Still, as these programs aren’t always the safest, you might consider partnering up with an assistant to get the job done.
That being said, you can introduce your assistants to the tools I will mention later in the blog post, thus shielding yourself from the potential risk. Of course there are many assistants that are already proficient at this that you can rely on, as shown in the above image.
By the way, I recommend Upwork or Fiverr to find the perfect virtual assistant for this purpose.
Further Reading: 7 Tested Ways How to Grow Your Email List with Instagram
3. Buy an Instagram Data Set
I have to preface this by saying that I’ve never tried this method. Nevertheless, I’m more than intrigued by this solution. BrightData is one site that offers numerous scraping solutions and other tools to assist digital entrepreneurs.
The platform has more than 620 million public records available, which means that you can easily find your user profile. Another cool feature is that the IG follower export tool allows you to extract entire lists or create customized sets of data. The program allows you to download lists in a convenient CVS file or JSOn.
The reason why I’d give this approach a chance is because it seems safer than the IG follower export tools. All your data is already available on the servers, so you won’t have to interact with the site. You won’t have to worry about data collection and other forms of misuse that come with follower software.
Further Reading: Tips for Effectively Retargeting Customers Using Instagram
Social media website scrapers are one of the most common solutions you can use for this particular task. I especially like tools such as Phantombuster, which I’ve used on numerous occasions.
When you use this efficient tool, you give it access to your cookies and profile URL. It’s worth mentioning that the software is rather safe as long as you don’t tinker with the basic settings. Like many other programs from this category, the app is rather straighforward and has a user-friendly interface.
Besides scraping valuable follower information, Phantombuster allows you to extract user profiles and other profile data. You can also use it to set up efficient workflows. For example, you can use the app to follow certain accounts or interact with the accounts you’ve previously extracted.
Another potential option is IGLeads.IO. This is a newer software that has a few added features compared to Phantombuster. Besides Instagram followers, the program also allows you to extract data from Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube. As such, it serves as a comprehensive all-in-one lead generation and scraping platform.
An interesting thing about IGLeads.IO is that it doesn’t scrape from the platform. Instead, it taps into Google SERPs to generate a list of accounts and find everyone connected to your social profile. As such, it’s one of the safest scraping solutions I’ve seen.
Further Reading: The Best 19 AI Website Scrapers You Haven’t Heard Of
Back in the day, there were many more automated Instagram tools. A lot of them allowed you to manage followers and track unfollowing. Some of them even had Chrome extensions that allowed you to hasten the scraping process. One of my favorite solutions from this group was Combin, an app that had a full analytics suite.
Unfortunately, after numerous API changes, Combin has decided to discontinue the paid plan. The good news is that the company still features some of the smaller tools on the website, and you can try them out for free.
With this solution, you can better manage your content strategy, ensuring uninterrupted growth for your social accounts and brand as a whole. Combin can easily export following list, which you can use to make actionable insights.
Not only does this tool allow you to export following list, Combin also gives you comprehensive follower insights. For example, you can use the software to assess follower quality and how people interact with your brand. By using this solution, you can determine which accounts don’t follow you back or stop following you.
I especially like its follower locator feature. The software allows you to track the target audience and other influencers based on their geolocation and hashtags. That way, you can focus on a specific segment of population and create content tailor-made for them. Lastly, Combine is pretty great at running influencer campaigns.
Further Reading: The Top 21 Instagram Tools You Need for Successful Marketing
6. Use a Dedicated Instagram Scraper
Another great option at your disposal is using dedicated Instagram scrapers. While these tools don’t offer comprehensive insights, they’re still your best bet for gathering data from Instagram and other social media. As they specialize in scraping, they might offer features you won’t find in other similar tools.
LinkedRadar’s Instagram Exporter Tool is my favorite software from this particular category. It specializes in data extraction and offers a few intriguing functions you won’t find anywhere else. Things I have to mention about this tool is that it comes with extensive filtering options and you can add it to your Chrome and Edge.
As mentioned, the IG follower export tool allows you to extract full lists of followers and people you follow. Given that Instagram uses a rate limit mechanism that assesses your scraping, you can set the delay between different actions. While this will take more time, it will ensure that you don’t get in trouble with the social media platform.
The software can save results in CSV and Excel files. On the right-hand side, you can see the scraping stats, such as errors, found profiles, and total profiles scraped. While this is a minor feature, it helps you monitor the process.
Further Reading: 13 Robust AI Instagram Post Generators I Recommend
Summary
I often use the export function of these tools to create a comprehensive follower list. With these lists, I can learn more about my fanbase and, specifically, find my optimal target audience. You can also use the data for email campaigns, to find your audience on other social media platforms, and custom audiences for more effective ad spend.
Hero photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash
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