  Let $E_\alpha \colon \mathcal{W} \to \mathbb{R}$ denote the expectation value
of the Hamiltonian of point interaction in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with inverse
scattering length $\alpha \in ]0, \infty[$ and consider an energy functional
$I_\alpha \colon \mathcal{W} \to \mathbb{R}$ of the form $$ I_\alpha (u) =
\frac{1}{2} E_\alpha (u) + T (u), $$ where $T \colon \mathcal{W} \to
\mathbb{R}$ is a given nonlinear functional. We propose a set of conditions on
$\rho$, $I_\alpha$ and $T$ under which the problem $$ I_\alpha (u) = \inf
\left\{I_\alpha (v) : \|v\|_{L^2}^2 = \rho^2\right\}; \quad \|u\|_{L^2}^2 =
\rho^2 $$ has a solution. As an application, we prove the existence of ground
states with sufficiently small mass $\rho$ for the following nonlinear problems
with a point interaction: (i) a Kirchhoff-type equation, (ii) the
Schr\"odinger--Poisson system and (iii) the Schr\"odinger--Bopp--Podolsky
system.
