# Build an Instagram creator research workflow

Start with a shortlist of known public profile URLs. FetchFox can supply profile and post observations; your research criteria and final decisions remain in your own application.

Canonical: https://fetchfox.net/guides/instagram-creator-research

## Define what a useful candidate looks like

Choose the topic, language, publishing format, and observation window before collecting data. Avoid treating follower count as a substitute for relevance. This API does not provide private audience demographics or guaranteed contact information.

## Inspect comments on selected posts

For a qualitative review, select one public post and inspect an available comment batch. Keep the source, retrieval date and collection status with your notes. A partial sample does not establish overall audience sentiment.

[View Instagram comments](https://fetchfox.net/tools/instagram-comments-viewer)

[Save comments for spreadsheet analysis](https://fetchfox.net/guides/export-instagram-comments-csv)

## Collect a small, comparable sample

Use the same limit and collection window for every candidate. Start with a single creator to inspect response fields before processing a list.

1. Read /instagram/channel-stats for the profile identity, bio, and public counts.
2. Read /instagram/channel-posts?limit=20 or /instagram/channel-reels?limit=20 depending on the format you study.
3. For selected individual posts, use /instagram/stats and decide whether verified views are essential.
4. Store identifiers, source URLs, retrieval times, and missing-value flags in your own database or spreadsheet.

## Make the cost explicit

A profile lookup costs one credit. A successful list of up to 20 returned posts or reels costs at least one credit. Each additional single-post metrics read costs one credit. A profile plus a 20-item feed sample therefore starts at two credits, before follow-up reads.

Separate attempts from charged results. Failures consume no processing credits. There is no separate monthly request-attempt allowance.

## Review before acting

Deduplicate repeated observations and leave unavailable view counts as null. Document your sampling limits beside any comparison. Read the original content before drawing conclusions; FetchFox does not provide an automatic creator quality score.

## Related pages

- https://fetchfox.net/docs/instagram-profile-api

- https://fetchfox.net/docs/instagram-posts-api

- https://fetchfox.net/docs/instagram-reels-api

- https://fetchfox.net/docs/instagram-post-stats-api

- https://fetchfox.net/tools/instagram-comments-viewer

- https://fetchfox.net/guides/export-instagram-comments-csv