TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

1. set up Instagram as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
2. set up Google Sheets as a destination connector
3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is Instagram

Instagram is a popular photo/video sharing application that enables users to share images and text captions with other people on social media. The app allows users to apply a variety of custom filter effects to enhance their images. Instagram is a free service and offers the ability to follow others, make user profiles private or public, post to other linked social accounts, and tag people or a location.

What is Google Sheets

Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet tool that allows users to create, edit, and share spreadsheets online. It is a part of the Google Drive suite of productivity tools and is accessible from any device with an internet connection. Google Sheets offers a range of features that make it a powerful tool for data analysis, project management, and collaboration. Users can create and format spreadsheets, add formulas and functions, and create charts and graphs to visualize data. Google Sheets also allows users to collaborate in real-time, making it easy to work on projects with others. Users can share spreadsheets with specific people or make them public, and can control who has access to edit or view the document. Additionally, Google Sheets integrates with other Google tools such as Google Forms, allowing users to collect data and automatically populate it into a spreadsheet. Overall, Google Sheets is a versatile and user-friendly tool that can be used for a variety of tasks, from simple calculations to complex data analysis.

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Prerequisites

1. A Instagram account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
2. A Google Sheets account.
3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including Instagram and Google Sheets, for seamless data migration.When using Airbyte to move data from Instagram to Google Sheets, it extracts data from Instagram using the source connector, converts it into a format Google Sheets can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into Google Sheets via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their Instagram data for advanced analytics and insights within Google Sheets, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Methods to Move Data From Instagram to google sheets

• Method 1: Connecting Instagram to google sheets using Airbyte.
• Method 2: Connecting Instagram to google sheets manually.

Method 1: Connecting Instagram to google sheets using Airbyte

Step 1: Set up Instagram as a source connector

1. Open the Airbyte platform and navigate to the "Sources" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.

2. Click on the "Add Source" button and select "Instagram" from the list of available connectors.

3. In the "Configure Instagram" page, enter your Instagram username and password in the appropriate fields.

4. Click on the "Test Connection" button to ensure that the credentials are correct and the connection is successful.

5. Once the connection is verified, click on the "Save & Test" button to save the configuration and test the connection again.

6. If the test is successful, click on the "Create" button to create the Instagram source connector.

7. You can now use the Instagram source connector to extract data from your Instagram account and integrate it with other tools and platforms.

Step 2: Set up Google Sheets as a destination connector

1. Go to the Airbyte website and log in to your account.
2. Click on the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. Scroll down until you find the "Google Sheets" destination connector and click on it.
4. Click on the "Create Destination" button.
5. Enter a name for your destination and click on the "Create" button.
6. You will be redirected to the Google Sheets authorization page. Sign in to your Google account if you haven't already.
7. Click on the "Allow" button to grant Airbyte access to your Google Sheets account.
8. You will be redirected back to the Airbyte website. Select the Google Sheets destination you just created from the list of destinations.
9. Enter the name of the spreadsheet you want to use as your destination and select the worksheet you want to use.
10. Click on the "Test" button to make sure the connection is working properly.
11. If the test is successful, click on the "Save" button to save your destination settings.
12. You can now use the Google Sheets destination connector to transfer data from your source to your Google Sheets destination.

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your Instagram data to Google Sheets

Once you've successfully connected Instagram as a data source and Google Sheets as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
2. Choose your source: Select Instagram from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
3. Select your destination: Choose Google Sheets from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific Instagram objects you want to import data from towards Google Sheets. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from Instagram to Google Sheets according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your Google Sheets data warehouse is always up-to-date with your Instagram data.

Method 2: Connecting Instagram to google sheets manually

Moving data from Instagram to Google Sheets without using third-party connectors or integrations involves several steps, including leveraging Instagram's API and writing a script to insert the data into Google Sheets using Google Apps Script. Below is a detailed guide to accomplish this task:

Step 1: Register as a Facebook Developer

To access Instagram's API, you need to be registered as a Facebook Developer and create an app.

1. Go to https://developers.facebook.com/ and log in with your Facebook account.

2. Click on "My Apps" and then "Create App."

3. Choose the app type that fits your needs (for data fetching, "Consumer" might be appropriate).

4. Fill in the required details and create the app.

Step 2: Set Up Instagram Basic Display

Instagram's Basic Display API allows you to read basic profile information and media.

1. In your app dashboard, navigate to "Products" and add "Instagram Basic Display."

2. Fill in the required fields in the settings, such as the "Privacy Policy URL."

3. Add an Instagram Test User in the "Roles" section to test your app.

Step 3: Obtain Access Tokens

To access Instagram data, you'll need an access token.

1. Navigate to the "Basic Display" tab and scroll down to "User Token Generator."

2. Authenticate the test user you added earlier to generate a token.

Step 4: Fetch Data from Instagram

Use the access token to make API calls to Instagram using a scripting language like Python.

1. Install the `requests` library if you haven't already: `pip install requests`.

2. Write a script to fetch data from Instagram:

```python

import requests

access_token = 'YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

user_id = 'YOUR_USER_ID'

url = f'https://graph.instagram.com/{user_id}?fields=id,username,media_count&access_token={access_token}'

response = requests.get(url)

if response.status_code == 200:

    data = response.json()

    print(data)

else:

    print('Failed to fetch data')

```

Step 5: Set Up Google Sheets API

For Google Sheets, you'll use Google Apps Script to insert data.

1. Go to Google Drive and create a new Google Sheet.

2. Click on "Extensions" > "Apps Script."

3. Rename the project to something meaningful.

Step 6: Write Google Apps Script to Insert Data

In the Apps Script editor, write a script to insert data into the Google Sheet.

```javascript

function insertInstagramData(instagramData) {

  var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();

  // Assuming instagramData is an array of arrays e.g., [[username, media_count]]

  var range = sheet.getRange(sheet.getLastRow() + 1, 1, instagramData.length, instagramData[0].length);

  range.setValues(instagramData);

}

```

Step 7: Combine Instagram Fetching with Google Sheets Scripting

Now you'll need to combine the Instagram data fetching with the Google Sheets scripting.

1. Modify your Python script to send the data to Google Apps Script using Google Sheets API.

2. Alternatively, use Google Apps Script's `UrlFetchApp` to fetch data directly from Instagram and insert it into Google Sheets.

Here's an example using `UrlFetchApp` in Google Apps Script:

```javascript

function fetchInstagramData() {

  var accessToken = 'YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN';

  var userId = 'YOUR_USER_ID';

  var url = 'https://graph.instagram.com/' + userId + '?fields=id,username,media_count&access_token=' + accessToken;

  var response = UrlFetchApp.fetch(url);

  var json = JSON.parse(response.getContentText());

  // Assuming you want to insert username and media count

  var instagramData = [[json.username, json.media_count]];

  insertInstagramData(instagramData);

}

// Don't forget to define insertInstagramData function as shown in Step 6

```

Step 8: Schedule Data Fetching (Optional)

You can set a trigger to run the `fetchInstagramData` function periodically.

1. In the Apps Script editor, click on the clock icon (current project's triggers).

2. Click on "+ Add Trigger" and select the `fetchInstagramData` function.

3. Choose the type of trigger you want (e.g., Time-driven) and set the frequency.

Step 9: Test and Debug

Run your scripts and check if the data is being inserted into Google Sheets correctly. Debug any issues that arise.

By following these steps, you should be able to move data from Instagram to Google Sheets without using third-party connectors or integrations. Remember that Instagram's API has rate limits and Google Apps Script has quotas, so be mindful of those when fetching and writing data.

Use Cases to transfer your Instagram data to Google Sheets

Integrating data from Instagram to Google Sheets provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

1. Advanced Analytics: Google Sheets’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your Instagram data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Instagram alone.
2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Instagram, syncing to Google Sheets allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
3. Historical Data Analysis: Instagram has limits on historical data. Syncing data to Google Sheets allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
4. Data Security and Compliance: Google Sheets provides robust data security features. Syncing Instagram data to Google Sheets ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
5. Scalability: Google Sheets can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding Instagram data.
6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Instagram data in Google Sheets, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
7. Reporting and Visualization: While Instagram provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to Google Sheets, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a Instagram table that needs to be converted to a Google Sheets table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

1. Configure a Instagram account as an Airbyte data source connector.
2. Configure Google Sheets as a data destination connector.
3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from Instagram to Google Sheets after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!