Using a single Phantom can provide valuable data, but chained together, the sky is the limit! When you chain Phantoms, you use the output results of one Phantom as the input for another Phantom, essentially connecting them together to create an automation sequence. So how do you create workflows this way?
Important note: before you begin, please note that chaining will only work with Phantoms from the same platform (e.g. chaining a LinkedIn Phantom to an Instagram Phantom won't work!)
In the scenario given below, we will link the LinkedIn Search Export to the LinkedIn Profile Scraper. Chaining these two Phantoms together will allow to:
1/ Extract the results of a LinkedIn search
2/ Scrape these profiles and retrieve all the available data
Thanks to this sequence, you'll be able to extract + scrape profiles on automatic (don't forget to set up automatic and repeated launches to automate the process even more!)
1. Launch Phantom 1
To start the chaining process, you'll need to launch the first Phantom in the sequence, LinkedIn Search Export. Once the Phantom has successfully completed its task, you'll find a new "Files" section on the right of its console page. Here, you'll find the spreadsheet containing the data you've scraped:
2. Use Phantom 1's output as Phantom 2's input
Next, you'll need to set up the second Phantom, LinkedIn Profile Scraper. On the "Profiles to scrape" step, you'll see a "My Phantoms" option, and underneath there will be a dropdown menu with a list of the compatible Phantoms on your Dashboard. Here, you should select the Phantom whose results spreadsheet you would like to use as input for the current Phantom:
In this example, we've used LinkedIn Search Export to extract the leads as a first step and now are using the LinkedIn Profile Scraper to scrape their profiles, so you should select LinkedIn Search Export from the dropdown list.
Once you've filled in and saved the rest of your settings, you're good to go - congrats, they’re chained! When you launch Phantom 2, it will process all of the data you've collected from Phantom 1. And, even better, as the first Phantom continues to collect new data and update the CSV file, the second Phantom will have access to it all dynamically. You can take a look at our article on setting up repeated launches to automate the process even more.
Note: To get the most out of this feature, we recommend using the default setting for the "Folder management" in "Settings" > "Advanced settings" > "Mix old and new files":
When chaining Phantoms, Phantom 2 needs an updated results file to process. If you use the options "Delete all previous files at each launch" or "Create new files at each launch", the data in the already chained results won't be updated, and you will have to manually upload the updated results file.
By using the default option "Mix old and new files", the Phantom will pick up from where it left off during the last launch to perform its task, then overwrite the old files, adding the new data. This will allow Phantom 2 to constantly have new data to process, without you having to do anything else!
If you want to go even further and learn how to chain several Phantoms together, don't hesitate to check our blog article on the subject!
Have fun chaining Phantoms!
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