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