With the importance of social media for real estate agents becoming clearer by the day, the team at Classified Ad Ventures (owner of propertyadguru.com) have come up with a new social tool to help Australian agents: SOBOX.

SOBOX aims to provide agents with “social media in a box”, taking any hassle associated with setting up and maintaining their social media presence out of the equation.

SOBOX offers agents two services. The first sets up all the social media accounts and channels agents require, ready to display with their own original content. The second service not only sets up these accounts but also populates them with content designed to gather fans and followers.

SOBOX is the first business launched by Classified Ad Ventures. Classified Ad Ventures is the creation of Simon Baker, the former CEO and Managing Director of the REA Group, which runs Australian market leading portal realestate.com.au.

In announcing the launch of SOBOX, Baker said: “Social media is an important marketing tool for Australian real estate agents and all agents should have a strong presence on the main sites – Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. We launched SOBOX to help Australian agents get the most from social media and to reduce their reliance on traditional and other online media when marketing themselves and their listings.”

Kelly Millar, CEO of SOBOX and former Consumer Marketing Manager of realestate.com.au, added: “Agents need to be relevant and they need to be where their customers are congregating online. Many agents are not sure where to start or how to build their brand through social media. It’s not just a matter of establishing a Facebook page and pumping through listings. It’s about relationship building and positioning, which is the key to generating listings and future business.”