Create and post Instagram visuals from Google Sheets with Blotato

Automatically generate viral-ready Instagram visuals from content ideas stored in Google Sheets, then publish them to Instagram with full status tracking and error logging.

Who is this for?

This template is ideal for:

Content creators posting consistently on Instagram
Affiliate marketers building automated content funnels
Social media managers handling idea-to-post workflows
AI automation builders using Google Sheets as a control panel
Teams that want hands-free visual content creation and publishing

If you want to turn content ideas into published Instagram visuals automatically, this workflow is for you.

What problem is this workflow solving?

Creating and publishing Instagram content manually is time-consuming and inconsistent. Common challenges include:

Turning raw ideas into engaging visual formats
Switching between different visual styles (carousel, slideshow, text)
Waiting for AI rendering before posting
Forgetting what has already been published
Tracking failed posts and retrying manually

This workflow turns Google Sheets into a single source of truth and fully automates the entire Instagram content pipeline.

What this workflow does

This automated Instagram workflow:

Triggers on a defined schedule
Loads pending content ideas from Google Sheets
Routes each idea by viral content format
Generates Instagram visuals using Blotato: Whiteboard Infographic
Tutorial Carousel
Single Centered Text
Image Slideshow
Waits for AI rendering to complete
Fetches the generated visual asset
Publishes the visual to Instagram automatically
Marks content as published in Google Sheets
Logs errors if publishing fails

Setup

1. Prepare Google Sheets

Create a Google Sheet with at least the following columns:

idea – Content idea or hook
visual_format – whiteboard / carousel / single_text / slideshow
caption – Instagram caption
status – pending / published / error
error_message – Stores error details if publishing fails

Only rows marked as pending will be processed.

2. Connect Google Sheets

Authenticate your Google Sheets account in n8n
Select the spreadsheet in the Fetch Content Ideas & Visual node
Ensure update nodes can write back to the same sheet

Google Sheets acts as the control panel for your content engine.

3. Configure Blotato (Visual Generation)

For each visual creation node:

Connect your Blotato credentials
Verify the visual format configuration
Ensure rendering outputs are accessible for publishing

Supported formats in this workflow:

Whiteboard Infographic
Tutorial Carousel
Single Centered Text
Image Slideshow

4. Configure Instagram Publishing

Connect your Instagram account in the Instagram Auto Publishing node
Ensure required permissions for posting visuals
Test with a single post before running at scale

5. Configure the Schedule Trigger

Open the Content Schedule Trigger
Set how often the workflow runs (hourly, daily, or custom cron)

This schedule controls when new content ideas are processed and published.

How to customize this workflow to your needs

You can adapt this workflow without changing the core structure:

Disable unused visual formats
Add approval steps (Slack, Telegram, Email) before publishing
Insert retry logic for failed posts
Add hashtag generators or caption enhancers
Extend the workflow to support Reels or multi-image carousels
Add analytics or performance tracking after publishing

Best practices

Keep status values consistent in Google Sheets
Start with a small batch to test rendering and posting
Use Instagram-safe image dimensions
Monitor the Log Publishing Error node for debugging
Treat Google Sheets as the single source of truth

Documentation

For a full walkthrough and advanced customization ideas, see:

Video Guide