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As the end of the year approaches it’s an opportune time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next. We decided to check in with longtime friend and director and photographer Justin Francis to see what his most memorable moment was this past year and what he plans to do in 2013.

Justin Francis shooting The Fray’s latest video.

What was your most memorable moment from this past year?  

I had a chance to travel to Argentina for a B.o.B. music video back in February. Normally when you direct a video you are given the job specs and the location is already decided. This, however, was one of the rare cases where my concept dictated the filming location. So I was there for a week – shooting, scouting, working with incredible talent in South America. I have been fortunate to travel around the world for one job or another. It is without a doubt the biggest perk of being a Director/Photographer!

What is your biggest goal for 2013?  

My goals remain the same from year to year –  to get better across the board and to do work that I can be proud of.

How has liveBooks changed your business?  

On a basic level, liveBooks has provided me with an incredibly versatile platform to view, edit and showcase my work. But beyond that, liveBooks has acted as a sort of loudspeaker – getting the word out about both me and my business. Most creative people I know would rather be creating stuff instead of talking about themselves. liveBooks allows me to focus on my work and I leave my marketing and web presence to them.

Check out Justin’s behind the scenes coverage of Carly Rae Jepsen’s video.

As the end of the year approaches it’s an opportune time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next. We decided to check in with longtime friend and fine art and commercial photographer Claire Rosen to see what her most memorable moment was this past year and what she plans to do in 2013. We are looking forward to seeing the conceptual fashion shoot with real giraffes!

What was your most memorable moment from this past year?  

My most memorable moment of 2012 was playing with baby tigers while on a fashion shoot in Thailand. The photo below is from that shoot.

What is your biggest goal for 2013?  

To create a conceptual fashion shoot with real giraffes!

How has liveBooks changed your business?  

liveBooks has been an essential part of my business as it relates to my online visibility and the way I connect with people. Most of the time, sending a link to my website is the first point of contact whether I am requesting a meeting with a potential client or reaching out to a new stylist, modeling agency, location etc. With liveBooks I am confident that my work will look good on any screen or device, and that the site is a clean design that is easy to navigate. I also appreciate not having to spend time fussing with it and when I want to add new images or projects it is a super easy workflow for me.

Photo courtesy of Claire Rosen

Story: “A Leopard Among Tigers”

Credits: Photographer: Claire Rosen, Model: Josie of Red Models

Location: Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai Thailand, H&M: Chai Surasen, Styling: Kate Lee

As the end of the year approaches it’s an opportune time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next. We decided to check in with longtime friend and celebrity photographer John Russo to see what his most memorable moment was this past year and what he plans to do in 2013. And the answers sound fabulous!

What was your most memorable moment from this past year?  

Shooting the Hugo Boss Fragrance Campaign and getting to travel all over the world to do it.

What is your biggest goal for 2013?  

To play more tennis and see the Greek Islands!

How has liveBooks changed your business?  

liveBooks plays a huge role in my business. My clients love how my photographs are displayed. We are constantly uploading new images to our site. It’s so easy and fast!

Photo courtesy of John Russo

As a photographer your time to devote toward social media may be limited. Most photographers I know have commented that they wish they had an extra hour (or 10) in their day to catch up on editing photos, updating their web page, or _______(insert 1 of a zillion things you are busy with). So why devote time toward social media if you can’t measure the effect it has on your business? In this post we’ll help you measure the value of your time and interactions so that you can make better decisions about how to market your photography business.

Time is one of your most valuable assets
Time will help establish a benchmark for measuring the return on investment of your social media efforts. How much time do you spend on social media and what do you value that time at? If we assume you devote an average of 5 hours a week on social media (20 hours a month, 240 hours a year) and your hourly rate is $25 your social media marketing efforts may be costing you at least $6,000 a year. This seemingly “free” form of advertising is not free. So lets be strategic and start measuring social media.

How do you measure social media?
Part of why it’s hard to measure the value of social media is that there is no universal unit of measure across the different platforms. If I may be so bold, I’d advocate that until some universal unit of measurement exists (share your thoughts) the only way to measure the value of social media is to value your input of time, research, and advertising funds for each social media platform and compare this to your possible return from other forms of traditional marketing.

Value of time invested + Investment in education/research + Cost of paid advertising and social media tools= The monetary cost of your social media marketing

Facebook offers some of the most insightful analytics tools of all of the social media platforms. Still the challenge is to understand what each insight actually tells you. Two insights that I have found helpful are “unique users by frequency” (clarifies within a specific time period how often each unique users engaged with your page) and the “friends of friends” (gives you total possible reach of your page). These are stats that any good media channel should be able to give you about their readership or viewership. Compare what your social media investment is to the coverage you could receive from other channels for a comparable investment.

Another valuable insight you can gather from all social platforms is the cost of social referral. By using Google Analytics you can see the amount of unique visitors you receive through each link you put up. Sum the amount of time, research, and advertising you invested in a specific landing page and divide this by the amount of unique visitors you received for each link to value your cost per referral. How much is it really costing you to get people to view your unique content?

Hopefully by now you have a better idea of how to make sense of what your Social Media results are telling you. Remember that unless you quantify your investment of time, research, advertising options and available funding, you won’t be able to accurately assess the true gain/or loss on your social media efforts.

Stay tuned next week as we focus on Instagram as part of your social media presence.  If you haven’t already, join the conversation and let us know what is working for you at resolve@livebooks.com. For the latest news from liveBooks, and for added information and access to tools that will help you grow your photography business, stay connected to liveBooks through Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.