http://nickramage.net.au nickramage :: digital :: communications Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:34:54 +0000 http://nickramage.net.au en http://nickramage.net.au/My-Current-Work http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-Current-Work Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:34:54 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 208835 2010, Open Web, ICT & the Engender Group 2010 saw me working closely with Liam Clancy and the team from Engender Consulting to ramp up not only their own website, but also to make some productive extra-net sites for their clients and staff to utilise as well as developing new online arms of their consultancy firm supporting the SA not-for-profit sector. It was genuinely exciting and refreshing to have a group wanting to embrace Open Web applications and the diverse benefits to clients and students relying on their project, employment and training solutions. 2011 looks as exciting with plans for another arm to Engender online - with Engender Health now being developed for roll-out in early 2011. My work has covered everything from high end CMS management and design of the new engender.com.au site through to building community value and branding via applications such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more recently such as the newest offering from the Facebook founders - the non-profit online community established in September - Jumo. In short a great year building lots of good gear - and working with some great clients while also spreading the good word about Open Web web and ICT applications. Nick Ramage http://nickramage.net.au/My-Metrics http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-Metrics Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:43:59 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 221884 Below you can see a variety of my posted metrics for Foolkit Legal as well as my Twitter and other social media sites. FOOLKIT: I am deeply fond of Google Analytics and continue to be amazed by its ability to drill down and in a click export an enormous amount of data whilst also simply representing this visually so any non-tech manager can easily understand whatever variances have occurred. Foolkit Legal at its best has been tagged with 6,052 Unique Visitors a month and 525 Uniques a day in January last year, with 16,477 Pageviews for the December - January 2009 period. During January 2009 I ran a strong push for Foolkit Legal using Tumblr and Digg posts that reaped very solid return clicks, with 57.68% New Visits being recorded in that month. We now average 600 Visits a day with around 6,000 Visits per month. TWITTER: <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/221884/tweet sensei.png" width="218" height="284" width_o="218" height_o="284" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/221884/tweet sensei_o.png" data-mid="968949" border="0" align="left"/> My @foolkitlegal site has now been active since March 2009 and has been an exceptional success for Foolkit as it positioned the site as a trusted online source of information for the Australian legal profession. I have for some time ranked as the #5. Twitter site for Adelaide, South Australia having a tally of over 3,600 followers from 6,500 Tweet posts. I use a combination of automated posts and live posts three times a day to build my audience and respond to requests for legal information. Twitter is the clear Web 2.0 channel used by the Australian and international legal community, and foolkitlegal has positioned now itself as a trusted online voice that mixes a range of mainstream legal content with social justice, odd case-notes and judgments along with practice management tips - plus hard to find professional links that my readers appreciate. The key is to engage readers and thereby grow return audiences who then will follow through to our site when the occasional direct link to a Foolkit feature is posted. Check out my Twitter ranking currently HERE - via TwiiterHolic. FACEBOOK Of course who could forget Facebook. This is the largest social-networking application that is arguably the world's biggest Web 2.0 community. The jury is still out as to exactly facebook's best purpose, but a professional friend encapsulated it well I think - and how it stands apart from the likes of Twiter - in that she uses facebook daily to catch up with local friends and biz colleagues as if she were sitting down for a coffee with them. Facebook is a no-pressure community that is far more *social* than business *networking* (which by the way is seen as poor form in facebook terms). However the value of a facebook presence is still immense and vital for those agencies and organisations seeking to position themselves online. A way one can have the best of both Twitter and facebook is to post to Web 2.0 applications at the same time using the the site Posterous.com which uses a web-based email system to dual-post your updates. A brilliant and totally time-saving solution, so that no one has any excuse not to be positioning themselves easily within the Web 2.0 landscape. Daily Google Analytics reports are vital for your site's survival and growth - you need someone in your organisation who can extract and analyse the rich primary and secondary data each week. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/221884/examine icon web two oh.jpg" width="144" height="118" width_o="144" height_o="118" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/221884/examine icon web two oh_o.jpg" data-mid="969045" border="0" align="left"/> Think of it as the air in the tyres of your e-communications strategy. Email me at nramage[at]nickramage.net.au if you have any queries about social media, getting online or making your online strategies really get results that you can see. http://nickramage.net.au/My-Other-Work http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-Other-Work Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:51:34 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 208841 I am currently Consultant Editor for Foolkit Legal - a national website that provides legal information, legislation and news updates for the Australian legal profession and the Australian public. I was employed as the Managing Editor for 12 months to establish Foolkit Legal for the Australian legal profession working with Executive Publisher and legal practitioner Andrew Rogers. So what exactly does Foolkit Legal do? For lawyers: Practical resources at your fingertips. making everyday practice so much easier. News and updates concerning the Australian legal profession. For the public: Foolkit makes access to Australian legal information easy. It provides fast legal resources and information in plain English. You can view Foolkit HERE. Please email me HERE with comments or contributions. I also blog on Twitter at foolkitlegal; NickRamage & OpenRoadOz <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/208841/FKL09_homesample_nsr.png" width="670" height="944" width_o="1083" height_o="1526" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/208841/FKL09_homesample_nsr_o.png" data-mid="892195" border="0" align="left"/> http://nickramage.net.au/My-Web-Web-2-0-Work http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-Web-Web-2-0-Work Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:17:59 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 191337 WEB Much of my online time is focussed on editing, administrating and researching content for the Australian legal portal Foolkit Legal. As editor I am responsible not only for the weekly production tasks, analytics reports and regular development strategies, but also for the marketing and promotions initiatives. Mixing old school promotions like working the ABC local radio stations with new-media tools such as Twitter and facebook has reaped terrific results for Foolkit since it was launched in May 2008. WEB 2.0 Web 2.0 is also known as social-media and each month is growing in acceptance as an integral marketing tool to be used by any organisation or venture that is sharp enough to see the amazing potential Web 2.0 applications have to engage and communicate to clients, prospects or the general public. As an old school publicist who can recall when as a youngster faxed press releases were * hi-tech* - the advent now from passive Web 1.0 communications such as this website to the fully instant engagement and feedback that Web 2.0 affords continues to excite me as a communications professional each day . Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are the poster-children of the social-media community, with Web 2.0 being very much the the next level of Web development. The next big thing around the corner is smart mobile technology - the Web 3.0 apps now emerging - that will focus on creating micro-tools that provide a seamless mix of inexpensive yet way powerful mobile, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technology - such as seen in the recently launched iPad from Apple. But let's just stay with Web 2.0 for the moment. Despite all the hype the good news is that social media - if used strategically - can provide powerful low-cost e-communications channels to get your message or brand out to a highly targetted audience. And just like *mainstream* Web communications, Web 2.0 campaigns/activity can now be tracked with their own metrics for the all important ROI. YES - I CAN CONSULT TO YOUR FIRM I am more than happy to talk or present to firms about how to make social-media work for them - so as to drive traffic to their site, engage site users and create the ROI's they require - be it awareness, advocacy or hard sales. CONTACT ME HERE Contact me here as I am only to pleased to consult on a half daily; daily or contractual basis. The main social media I am investing time into are Twitter.com/foolkitlegal, Tumblr, Facebook and Posterous.com. Both SM uber-startups are neighbours in downtown Silicon Valley. YES - TWITTER AND FACEBOOK WORKS On Twitter I edit a daily micro-blog on Twitter.com known as @foolkitlegal. At present I am pleased to say I am one of the top Australian legal Web 2.0 specialists with over 3,300 followers drawn from an Australian & international legal audience. I'm pleased to say I now don't need AdWords - or the hefty fees for legal search keywords - and can rely on my organic search hits for traffic from Google as well as referral hits from Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumbleUpon. I am at present the #2. site on Twitter for Adelaide, South Australia. [Source: Twitterholic.com - January 13] with a global follow rank of 20,282. NOT that its a race... as we always say - Twitter is really about content and how you engage your audience - together with what response aims you intend for your campaigns. I use a combination of auto-rostered posts and live posts throughout the day to feed material and updates to my Twitter and Facebook readers - and use TweetLater, TweetDeck, HootSuite and Posterous as my prime Web 2.0 tools-of-the-trade. Yes, it would be great if you could follow me here. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/191337/tweetwallpaper.jpg" width="670" height="445" width_o="840" height_o="559" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/191337/tweetwallpaper_o.jpg" data-mid="943155" border="0" align="left"/> http://nickramage.net.au/My-Pro-bono http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-Pro-bono Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:15:55 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 191264 My varied management committee/volunteer involvement from 1993 - 2002 included: : Radio 5UV - Film Show Presenter : Refugee Week (SA) Committee : 1997 DocoSA Conference Committee : Woodville Community Arts Centre – Secretary : Australian Screen Directors Association - (SA) – Working Party : Marion Community Art Gallery – Management Committee : Media Resource Centre - Exhibition Committee : Centenary of Cinema Committee (SA) : Amnesty International (SA) http://nickramage.net.au/My-Presentations http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-Presentations Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:54:53 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 191144 Below you will find a collection of videos, pdfs and links to posts of value for the Australian legal industry, in my capacity as Editor of Foolkit Legal. I'm currently researching a bit on Buzz and its rise as the new application in the social-media world. I have a small video from the GoogleGuru Matt Cutt's for people to checkout on this very new app. I enjoy and follow the Buzz community as it provides an insiders access to Google and their current developers. For the record though I prefer the Twitter community to share and learn..but Buzz is the new kid on the block - so lets wait and see... BUZZ 101: GOOGLE BUZZ ON YOUR MOBILE: YES - THE NEXT BIG THING I am becoming very interested on developing my legal sites and building legal practice sites that cater for the mobile desktop market - as this is clearly the new frontier for web-site/advertising/gaming/CRM development. Below we have a presentation by Google Buzz on the mobile market and its applications there. http://nickramage.net.au/My-Archive http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-Archive Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:06:47 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 190843 PAST WORK This section will contain my own general project work covering areas ranging from event production, media management and public relations - through to publishing and the internet. Start by having a quick look HERE at my issuu.com folio archive site. There you will see a sample of my Bulletin editions from 2005 - 2008 for the Law Society of South Australia - as well as schedule sheets, covers - plus some of my favourite On The Road review pages that were quite popular as I had a knack for scoring monthly extended prestige test-drives. I tied these in naturally to generating some very solid repeat full-page bookings for our advertising. In addition this folio highlights my prior corporate marketing experience for groups such as TASK AUSTRALIA and COLONIAL FIRST STATE. At TASK AUSTRALIA I worked for the Rainsford family as their contracted National Marketing Coordinator managing the firm's national online presence and dealer support for their iconic local forklifts made here in Adelaide and sold throughout Australiasia. Dean and Ben Rainsford are an institution in SA auto-racing, as the family singly handedly produced the 2000 Le Mans Race of a Thousand Years. TASK *staff training* days were more often staff race days at Mallala Raceway. At COLONIAL FIRST STATE - working in Centre Management of the Golden Grove Village Shopping Centre - I coordinated a $140,000 annual advertising budget with a unique monthly promotions strategy designed to grow Centre sales and Centre traffic for a range of major and individual tenants. http://nickramage.net.au/My-CV-The-Scenic-Route http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-CV-The-Scenic-Route Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:16:27 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 190418 BELOW ARE some details of my employment with various organisations, companies and agencies - following my graduation from Flinders University with a BA Honours in 1987. For a brief summation of the roles and organisations I have contributed to there is an additional resume page here. The early days: I must admit that my first jobs saw me literally run away to the circus - as I managed to secure roles with the 1988 Adelaide Fringe Festival as Operations Management Assistant and then later that year as Stage Management Assistant at the Brisbane World Expo. I then went through a TV news-crew phase working as a sound recordist, and raced over to Melbourne to work as a freelancer and then for a year with the Richmond production house 'The Facility' which back then did a lot of SBS contract work. My early working life was however pretty much as a publicist and community communications professional - along with a variety of arts and social justice roles thrown in during the 80's and 90's. The 90's: The mid 90's saw me then move into some exciting major event management roles and freelance marketing roles which embraced Adelaide's cinema & local music scene through to coordinating various Council community events and local trader events. Oh no the Y2K bug - cancel that plane flight!: In the late 90's I had a stint with retail marketing for a major Adelaide shopping precinct which honed my strategic and reporting skills until I returned to event management in 2001 with Stagings Connections - Australia's largest event staging company. Working in the technical production side of event management, this then took me across the state and working on some of the largest music and concert shows Adelaide has seen. Communication & publishing roles: I had in 2004 the opportunity to do some national marketing work for TASK Australia and from there I also had the good fortune to see a position vacancy for a Senior Editor at the Law Society of South Australia - and finally realising that I wasn't a 20 something I decided to again dust off the academic credentials and experience as communications professional and apply myself to the SA legal professions monthly journal. I thoroughly enjoyed spotlighting and examining the issues of concern and giving a print-voice to the SA legal profession for over four years. 2008 to now: In 2008 I was interviewing a South Australian legal identity who as a web-whiz had also established an internet start-up designed for South Australian legals and the public. He had secured 12 months of funding for the unique project and I was discussing the new project with him and at the end of the interview he offered me the role as Managing Editor of this online venture. I worked with Foolkit Legal creating content, researching material, updates and legal news for our users as well as managing a national roll out of a sophisticated web resource and law portal that has developed a considerably standing in the legal community that has seen a visitor count averaging over 5,000 visits a week. See foolkit.com.au I currently work for Engender Consulting as Digital Projects & ICT Manager. Engender is a projects, employment and ICT firm that partners projects within the Australian not-for-profit sector. Our site is engender.com.au IMMEDIATE PAST PROFESSION: Immediate prior nearly two years as the Managing Online Editor for the Australian legal portal Foolkit Legal - www.foolkit.com.au Prior to Foolkit Legal I enjoyed four years+ as editor for the Law Society of South Australia monthly practitioner magazine - the Bulletin. So - what can I do?: Public relations; event-management; communications; community advocacy; marketing; internet as well as information management - plus a few more tricks as well. I have always believed in being able to do everything I or a project I'm coordinating relies on. The days of "oh, I just do so-and-so" I think for communications professionals are long long gone. So if you need a passionate team member with the skills and expertise to contribute to your organisation on many levels, well yes, call that Nick Ramage guy. Either email me via nsrmedia@gmail.com or phone me via 0419 824 915 - or Tweet me at twitter.com/foolkitlegal :: return to Homepage HERE :: <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/190418/goat trak.JPG" width="670" height="501" width_o="2048" height_o="1532" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/17362/190418/goat trak_o.JPG" data-mid="821139" border="0" align="left"/> http://nickramage.net.au/My-CV-The-Expressway http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/My-CV-The-Expressway Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:24:51 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 190210 I AM currently updating my expertise and skills - the short version is on this page... For a quick run through of the diverse skills and expertise I can bring to your organisation, project or venture see below. TERTIARY: Initially graduated with BA English and Drama - with Honours in Media having designed my course to provide a tertiary Graduate Journalism qualification. PROFESSION - CURRENT: At present I am the Digital Projects & ICT Manager for Engender Consulting (SA). Engender is a projects, employment and ICT consultancy partnering projects within the Australian not-for-profit sector. I am also still contributing to the Australian law profession portal Foolkit Legal as a Contributing Editor and Social Media Consultant. IMMEDIATE PAST PROFESSION: Immediate prior nearly two years as the Managing Online Editor for the Australian legal portal Foolkit Legal - www.foolkit.com.au Prior to Foolkit Legal I enjoyed four years+ as editor for the Law Society of South Australia monthly practitioner magazine - the Bulletin. PAST EMPLOYMENT: My background however also includes many years in Adelaide in public relations, marketing, event-management and production, the cinema/entertainment industry, not-for-profit agencies and managing private and community art galleries. INTERESTS: Family, tennis, photography, music, social justice, environment, internet and technology in general, classic and contemporary cars and motor bikes. FAMILY STATUS: Married with kids - actually one son - age 9 - and twin 6 year old girls A somewhat more detailed portfolio page follows tracing my work history road-trip - and the consequent skills I garnered from the truck-stops of life... I am always available on nramage@gmail.com or via 0419 824 915 to discuss how I can contribute to your organisation. Regards NICK RAMAGE ::Homepage return :: access via X page top right :: http://nickramage.net.au/A-Brief-History-of-Mine http://nickramage.net.au/following/nickramage.net.au/A-Brief-History-of-Mine Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:14:28 +0000 nickramage :: digital :: communications 188645 THANKS FOR stopping by my portfolio to check me out. I have designed this board I trust to give an accurate picture of the breadth of my professional experiences and skills gathered since the late 1980s when *hi-tech* was doing a send of press releases using two fax machines. My early working life was pretty much as a publicist and community communications professional with a variety of arts and social justice roles thrown in during the 80's and 90's. The mid 90's saw me move into some exciting major event management roles and freelance marketing roles which covered Adelaide's cinema & local music scene to various Council events and local trader events. I had a stint with retail marketing for a major Adelaide shopping precinct which honed my strategic and reporting skills until I returned to event management with Stagings Connections - Australia's largest event staging company - which took me across the state and working on some of the largest music and concert shows Adelaide has seen. I had though the opportunity to do some contract marketing work for TASK Australia and from there I also had the good fortune to see a position vacancy for a magazine editor at the Law Society of South Australia - and finally realising that I wasn't a 20 something I decided to again dust off the academic credentials and experience as communications professional and apply myself to the SA legal professions monthly publication. I thoroughly enjoyed contributing to the issues of concern and giving a print-voice to the SA legal profession for over four years now. In 2008 I was interviewing a South Australian legal identity who as a web-whiz had also established an internet start-up designed for South Australian legals and the public. He had secured 12 months of funding for the unique project and I was discussing the new project with him and at the end of the interview he offered me the role as Managing Editor of this online venture. Which, of course, brings us to today where now as Consulting Editor to Foolkit Legal [www.foolkit.com.au] I have completed my 12 month contract and am now looking for my next professional challenge. So - what can I do? Skills: public relations; event-management; communications; community advocacy; technical production; marketing; internet and a few more tricks as well. I have always believed in being able to do everything I or a project I'm coordinating relies on. The days of "oh, I just do so-and-so" I think are long long gone. So if you need a passionate team member or consultant with the skills and expertise to contribute to your organisation on many, many levels - well, call that Nick Ramage guy. Either email me via nramage@gmail.com or call me via 0419 824 915 - or you can Tweet me at twitter.com/foolkitlegal Regards. NICK RAMAGE :: HOME PAGE RETURN: CLICK X PAGE TOP RIGHT ::