About

Hey Houston is a community platform connecting young Jewish adults in Houston to events, experiences, and local organizations. Open Circle led its launch in September 2025 and has run its marketing and growth ever since.

Challenge

A launch is easy to celebrate. Year two is harder. Once the launch energy fades, a platform has to earn its place every week. It needs to keep users coming back, keep partners listing events, and prove to the organizations in its network that it delivers real value. Hey Houston needed to make that shift and keep growing with a lean team and a modest budget.

Solution

Open Circle moved Hey Houston from launch mode to platform mode, focused on making it the easiest way to find Jewish life in Houston.

• Invested in owned channels. We ran a bi-weekly newsletter, search-optimized content about Jewish life in Houston, and organic social, supported by targeted, low-budget paid social.

• Ran on data. We delivered bi-weekly performance reports to the Hey Houston team, tracking traffic, signups, and engagement by event and organization. Every decision about content, timing, and channels was grounded in what members actually did.

• Optimized the user experience. We refined the platform so members could find what fit them quickly, including category filters for social, learning, professional, holiday, religious, and volunteer events, and a smoother signup flow.

• Built for scale. We built an automated event-intake system that pulls listings from organizations across the city, growing the calendar to 751 events without growing headcount.

• Evolved the ambassador program. Our ambassadors were instrumental in spreading the word at launch. Once Hey Houston was established, the program had fulfilled its role, and we channeled that energy into the platform experience.

Results

In its first year, Hey Houston grew into infrastructure Houston's Jewish community relies on:

• Monthly new visitors more than tripled from Q1 to summer 2026

• Member accounts grew nearly 4x year over year

• Newsletter open rates averaged 67% across 27 sends

• Instagram following more than tripled since launch

• The calendar grew to 751 events, more than 5x the 135 listed at launch

• 36+ organizations drove traffic through the platform, up from 15 launch partners

• Clicks on partner events grew about 9x from Q1 to summer 2026

• 4 local organizations reached out on their own to partner on or sponsor events

• Organic search became a top acquisition channel, bringing in the platform's most engaged visitors

"This is a great service to the young adult community!!!! Bravo!!!" - Embark Houston

Impact

Open Circle functioned as Hey Houston's full marketing department, owning strategy, content, analytics, and the systems behind the platform through a lean team of specialists.

The clearest sign of that impact is how the relationship with local organizations changed. At launch, we recruited partners to get involved. A year later, organizations were reaching out on their own to partner on and sponsor events. Hey Houston had become a channel Houston's Jewish community relies on to reach young adults, built on a modest budget and a strategy that sharpened every two weeks.

Final takeaway

Hey Houston shows what Open Circle does after launch day. We turn a promising concept into durable infrastructure that grows its audience, attracts partners, and earns trust in its community over time.