How We Built Creatorlytics to Help Us Grow on Instagram

Hey Indie Hackers! 👋

I'm David, and with my wife Maggie, we launched Creatorlytics – an analytics platform & AI assistant for Instagram creators. This isn't just another product launch; it's the story of how our own Instagram journey brought us closer and inspired a tool we now use daily.

The Backstory

I never thought I'd be posting on social media. Maggie, however, had been sharing photos on her @maginnyc account for years. Earlier this year, she decided to elevate her content, focusing on videos. I wanted to support her, so I looked for ways to help.

In just a few months, we grew her account by over 50%, started generating income, and strengthened our bond by building something together – it's been incredibly rewarding.

The Origin

Posting became addictive. Each post was a data point, a lesson. On our walks, we'd discuss performance and growth strategies, but lacked the tools to answer our questions.

We had more questions than answers: What content performs best? When should we post?

One weekend, I started tinkering, pulling Instagram data to categorize posts. This quickly replaced my clunky Google Sheet. From then on, every unanswered question during our walks became a new feature.

For instance, we'd post a reel and wonder how it compared to a viral one from last week. So, I built a feature to compare metrics like likes, shares, and saves between two posts over time.

Creatorlytics evolved beyond analytics. I wanted to easily draft trial reels while maintaining Maggie's voice, so I built a way to feed our most successful captions to an AI model for new caption ideas. Tired of sifting through my SSD for content, I added a feature to match folder names with given topics.

Where We Are Now

I've got a real, working product that we use every day! We're currently gathering feedback from a few creators we know. I'd love to offer Creatorlytics to Instagram creators (free of charge) in exchange for feedback and a testimonial. If you're an Instagram creator and see value in this, let me know.