Ania Czarnecka

Q. A significant number of articles in the Houston Business Journal are real estate related and the real estate beat is the only one with two reporters. Why is that? A. Real estate is the bread and butter of the Houston Business Journal. It ties into all industries and touches everyone, both commercial and residential development. Regardless of whether it’s a law firm, an oil and gas company or a healthcare clinic, all businesses need properties to house…

Despite the pervasiveness of social media in our lives, many real estate organizations struggle to utilize these tools to develop and deepen relationships, invite endorsement and create two-way communication with their audiences and stakeholders. Many organizations use social media as a one-way communication vehicle, talking at instead of with people. They miss out on the valuable feedback and validation social media participants can provide, such as what amenities they want in a residential community or which retailers they…

It happens all the time in the highly-competitive world of real estate. A new multimillion dollar project is announced with lots of hoopla. Company leadership and elected officials turn the dirt at groundbreaking. Local news outlets cover the story. The developer gets color photos on page one of the major daily and everyone is happy. A few months later – zip. Hundreds of new real estate projects – office buildings, retail centers, hotels, manufacturing complexes, hospitals and master-planned…

The debate about whether the traditional news release still serves a purpose is not new. The rise of social media, and the immediacy in which news is distributed, has caused many PR professionals and companies to re-evaluate their use of traditional news releases. The news release is most certainly NOT dead, but how and when it is used has changed. One of the most influential drivers of that change is social media outlets, which are becoming legitimate news…