Mental Health America of Greater Houston came to the Like Minds team with a meaningful goal: build awareness of Care Connect as it expanded statewide to help quickly connect more Texans with mental health resources.
CHALLENGE
Mental Health America of Greater Houston needed to build awareness around the statewide launch of Care Connect and encourage both providers and clients to use the resource. Our original plan was to partner strictly with licensed mental health professionals across Texas, although we soon expanded our strategy to collaborate with passionate influencers and creators whose content focused on mental health awareness, wellness and outreach.
Our big challenge? There was no budget to pay influencers.
STRATEGY
Like Minds created and executed a comprehensive public relations strategy that included Media Relations, Influencer Relations and Digital Advertising to secure maximum exposure for the statewide launch of Care Connect.
INFLUENCER RELATIONS
With no budget to offer paid sponsorships, our team focused on proactive, direct outreach and authentic relationship-building. The Like Minds team researched and reached out directly to creators across Texas who were already passionate about mental health awareness. When initiating these conversations, we were upfront about the opportunity, framing any partnership as a pro bono, in-kind collaboration centered on shared community impact.
And yet, people still wanted to be involved.
What began as targeted outreach turned into a robust group of creators who were excited to support MHA of Greater Houston and the Care Connect launch. Some creators had personal experiences with mental health that made the campaign especially meaningful to them. Others were mental health professionals, wellness creators or advocates who were already talking about these issues with their audiences.
Since these partnerships were in-kind, we had to give creators flexibility in how they told the story. Instead of trying to make every post look the same, we worked collaboratively with creators to develop content that felt authentic to them and their audiences. This approach allowed us to bring together a wide range of voices across social media platforms all with one thing in common: they genuinely cared about mental health.
DIGITAL ADVERTISING
We executed a targeted Meta ad campaign across Facebook and Instagram designed to connect potential patients directly with care resources. While our primary objective was driving calls to the Care Connect hotline, direct-call campaigns in digital advertising are notoriously difficult to convert and carry an exceptionally high cost per result. To maximize budget efficiency, we strategically focused on driving website clicks, working under the premise that higher site traffic would naturally translate into more phone inquiries. The ad graphics prominently featured the phone number alongside link prompts, reminding users that Care Connect serves as both a digital database and a direct helpline.
MEDIA RELATIONS
Like Minds drove widespread visibility for the Care Connect expansion by drafting and distributing a press release to statewide media and specialized mental health trade publications. The team also curated a strategic media list and developed distinct, tailored pitch angles, securing comprehensive coverage across television, radio and digital platforms.
RESULTS
Like Minds’ media campaign successfully generated 36 media placements and reached an audience of 3.22 million across broadcast and digital outlets. Strategic highlights included a broadcast feature on Univision 45 Houston, enabling direct engagement with Spanish-speaking families, a critical focus area supported by Care Connect’s bilingual navigation specialists and multilingual provider search tools. A segment on “Texas & Me” aired across both the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston markets, while dedicated broadcast features on Houston Public Media’s “Hello Houston” and 104.1 KRBE’s “Around H-Town” further amplified community awareness. The campaign's footprint was further expanded through online syndication when an initial InnovationMap story was picked up by San Antonio CultureMap, extending press coverage directly into Central Texas.
The Meta ad campaign generated over 145,965 views and drove more than 2,053 direct link clicks to the Care Connect landing page. These results proved the success of optimizing for site traffic rather than high-cost direct calls by delivering high-intent users directly to Care Connect’s search database while maximizing MHA of Greater Houston's advertising dollars and lowering overall cost per acquisition.
On the influencer relations front, the campaign generated 26 pieces of high-performing content across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, reaching 65,731 individuals and driving 2,262 active engagements—all achieved with a $0 creator budget. This proved that authentic alignment and community-driven advocacy can deliver impactful reach without financial investment.
However, the biggest win was how well the influencer content performed on MHA of Greater Houston’s own social channels. The influencer collaborations became some of the most-viewed posts on MHA of Greater Houston’s Instagram page, with the content generating some of the highest engagement levels across the account. Although many of the creators were micro-influencers with smaller audiences, they brought something that can't always be measured by follower count: a genuine connection to the issue. Their personal experiences, expertise, and passion for mental health helped the content resonate with their audiences.
Another unexpected win was the long-term value of the content. Each post included search-friendly language around mental health and Care Connect, helping increase MHA of Greater Houston’s visibility when people search for mental health resources online.
With our strategic media relations efforts, targeted Meta advertising and strong influencer relationships, Like Minds tied every service line back to one goal: maximum statewide exposure for Care Connect. This integrated approach generated 3.22 million earned media impressions, thousands of direct site clicks and 26 high-performing creator assets all while maintaining a $0 influencer budget. In the end, we got the most bang for our buck…with no buck and all the bang.