Author – Ken Hobson.
When news stories or Facebook chatter turn positive, people feel safe buying and selling. When talk turns sour, listings slow. Tracking mood helps you time campaigns, pricing, and vendor advice.

How Sentiment Analysis Works in Plain English

• Collect words: Grab headlines, articles, comments, and posts mentioning your suburb.

• Label feelings: AI gives each sentence a score: happy, neutral, or unhappy.

• Show patterns: Scores stack into charts so you see mood moving up or down.

• Spot triggers: Sudden drops often follow crime reports, rate rises, or development debates.

• Act early: Change messaging, release good-news stories, or hold off an auction until mood lifts.

Five-Step Workflow for Market Research

1. Define your patch

   • List suburbs, postcodes, and key landmarks you service.

2. Set up feeds

   • Add Google News, local papers, council updates, Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags, and X (Twitter) searches to one dashboard.

3. Run daily sentiment scoring

   • Use an AI tool (see below) to tag each new item as positive, neutral, or negative.

4. Visualise trends

   • Plot a simple line showing average mood for each suburb. Weekly emails keep your team informed.

5. Turn insight into action

   • Positive spike? Push just-listed ads.

   • Negative dip? Publish community-care content, reassure landlords, and adjust price guides if needed.

Recommended AI Tools

Turning Insights into Action

• Listing presentations: Show vendors mood charts to justify pricing or marketing spend.

• Content planning: Write blogs answering the week’s top worries.

• Investor updates: Flag suburbs where sentiment predicts rental demand changes.

• Crisis management: Respond quickly when negativity rises—issue facts before rumours spread.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

• Small sample size: Combine several sources so one angry post doesn’t skew results.

• Ignoring neutral data: A swing from positive to neutral can be an early warning.

• One-off checks: Schedule daily runs—sentiment shifts fast.

• Blind trust in AI: Manually review outliers to catch sarcasm and local humour.

Quick-Win Checklist

• List core suburbs and key search terms.

• Choose a sentiment tool and connect news plus social feeds.

• Automate daily scoring and a weekly PDF summary.

• Share insights with sales, property management, and marketing teams.

• Adjust campaigns based on trend direction every Monday.

Use this simple workflow to read the public mood like a weather report and steer your property strategies with confidence.