GTM Channel Discovery: Consumer Social App

A consumer app needs cheap, high-volume installs, while the partner side needs targeted B2B outreach. The team needed to know which channel drove quality installs, whether anyone searched for a brand-new social app and where the retail-partner pipeline actually came from.

• +Split five channels: consumer installs across Meta, TikTok, Google and referral loops; retail partners through outbound
• +Measured installs to active, engaged users rather than raw downloads
• +Tested whether search demand existed for a new social app at all
• +Read partner acquisition on booked retailer conversations

• +A ranked read on which channels drove engaged installs
• +A clear split between the consumer channels and the partner channel
• +The reason a new consumer app cannot rely on search

• +Meta won on the consumer side. Referral loops made it cheaper still, as engaged users kept pulling in new ones
• +TikTok added cheap top-of-funnel reach but converted below Meta on engaged installs
• +Google lost, because nobody searches for a social app they have never heard of. Outbound, meanwhile, won the partner side

This is a representative, anonymised composite of a go-to-market engagement. The client is described by what it does, never named, and the channel results illustrate the pattern we found rather than one account's exact figures. Each study reflects real engagement structure: channels were tested in parallel and measured against qualified pipeline, not vanity metrics. Talk to us about your channel mix.