tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27337798070625224712024-10-04T21:58:06.210-04:00sports, marketing, pop culture, higher education, music, fatherhoodGene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-9964871430486767682015-11-25T20:34:00.002-05:002015-11-25T20:56:01.306-05:00

It is with bittersweet excitement that I share the news that I will be leaving Babson College for a new opportunity in mid-January. Each role at Babson has been a stepping stone for the next one along my journey. I have been thankful to have had great opportunities, to have developed meaningful friendships, to have been inspired by amazing leaders, and to have partnered with mentors to work

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-53195798332418003312014-03-30T21:15:00.000-04:002014-03-30T21:25:10.745-04:00

Digital marketing is dead. Sounds dramatic, but it really is true. I have been talking about this concept with trusted peers over the past year and it's finally ringing true in my professional life. An October blog post of the same title as the above opening line, by fellow Babson alumnus Maja Stevanovich, really motivated me to push that concept further within our own internal organization

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-24288321147679532312013-07-29T20:46:00.000-04:002014-03-29T21:28:07.782-04:00

Facebook has been the go-to platform for institutions to connect with prospective students. The statistics are endless in terms of its scale and the time users spend on there. Let's not kid ourselves, though; Higher Education is full of control freaks. And Facebook is truly not in our control. Via a coordinated content strategy across Facebook and other social platforms, there is room for a

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-22670247621410699532012-07-31T20:45:00.000-04:002014-03-29T16:03:09.819-04:00

Today at the eduWeb Conference in Boston, I had the pleasure to present with my colleague and Babson College Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Sykora on "Crowdsourcing a Brand Campaign". Redefining a word can be overwhelming as can be facilitating an institutional branding campaign. Combine them both with a crowdsourcing microsite at its core and you have Babson College’s Redefining

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-5753131502554224662011-06-16T12:20:00.001-04:002014-03-29T14:08:40.194-04:00

Yeah, I did it. I pulled out the lame Charlie Sheen hashtag reference for a title. But it's retro now so it's okay to bring it back. Hear me out... I was privileged enough to win a free pass by Karine Joly to attend the Worldviews Conference thanks to a contest on Karine Joly's collegewebeditor.com. It has been a great conference on the blend of social media, PR and #highered. For

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-42780515117674948472011-04-16T18:11:00.003-04:002014-03-29T14:55:51.201-04:00

The transition is on. Well, it's been on for a while but I've finally ramped down from my undergraduate marketing activities as much as one can when transitioning to a new role within the same organization. While there has been some web services support for the College in the recent and distant past, my new role is a strategic shift for the institution. My vision is for the department to

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-37759763249455167392011-02-23T19:09:00.000-05:002011-02-23T19:09:28.979-05:00

Today, I formally resigned as Marketing Director for the Undergraduate School at Babson College. This has been one of the most enjoyable roles I've had here at Babson. It's timing was perfect for me and has helped shape me as a marketing professional. I was lucky to acquire this position at a time when the program was able to make great strides due to a strong leadership team and

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-25124400205666495962011-02-19T12:41:00.002-05:002011-04-17T08:22:07.323-04:00

When it comes to producing video content in 2011, there are many factors that help drive your decision-making process on an individual video project - goals, objectives, format, technology available, etc. First and foremost, there are many options on how to even record your video, with much of the decision-making process depending on your end goal. You can put a flip camera in the

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-50709022370128871472011-01-11T23:00:00.002-05:002011-01-18T10:46:20.396-05:00

Just like Benjarvus Green-Ellis and Danny Woodhead, the two icons of the Patriots organization can also be considered overachievers. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were underdogs early in their careers and are still driven by that fact. It's no coincidence their team revels in the underdog role.  We all know Brady was a sixth round pick, drafted 199th overall. He wasn't always

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-70055454054802156842010-11-14T17:04:00.004-05:002010-11-14T23:06:32.345-05:00

I first saw this 20 truths post from Amber Naslund via Twitter. which not surprisingly was inspired by friend and former colleague, CC Chapman. I thought it was a great idea and figured I'd take a stab at what 20 truths were on my mind that day. Here we go: I have historically not been a good listener, but I’m working on it. Having kids really does change your life for the better. Whoever came up

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-45591736730073051312010-10-25T09:26:00.002-04:002011-04-17T08:21:01.776-04:00

Commitment is a funny word.  For years as a single male, I feared that word. Or did I pretend to fear that word when in fact I wanted commitment all along? Being in a fun marriage with a beautiful wife and the cutest daugther I could imagine, commitment is certainly not a thing to be scared of. But what about commitment to work? Or better yet, commitment to working hard? Is

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-11685205554711051272010-10-11T21:31:00.001-04:002011-04-17T08:19:43.472-04:00

About a month back, I caught via Twitter a blog post by a former Twitter employee, Alex Payne. He shared his thoughts about the #newtwitter, the site's role changing in users' lives and that it would be his last post about Twitter. Great read, but what really caught my attention were two quotes about decentralization. "Twitter needs to decentralize or it will

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-83545250038976908642010-08-08T10:08:00.003-04:002011-04-17T08:17:25.316-04:00

Blogging. What were you thinking? I just have not kept up with it like I had hoped and imagined. Yes, work life is busy. Yes, home life is busy, especially with our beautiful, 7-week baby girl. Despite all that, I had hoped to manage my time efficiently and be able to write...mainly for my own entertainment...but also hoping someone, maybe my mom, would go online and read this. Then,

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-52442035217500280312010-06-18T00:15:00.001-04:002010-08-07T23:47:38.988-04:00

Every now and then, I've been known to track some of my commute's set lists as I ride home and tune from radio station to radio station.  I know, I'm strange. Well, I tracked a commute this week and it was quite different than most. I was listening to songs that I would skip right over in past situations. With brief intervals of sports talk radio, the songs were: Father

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-3163446573043237022010-06-15T23:20:00.000-04:002010-08-07T23:47:38.988-04:00

I'm male. And thank god for that. I have truly seen why the female gender is the stronger one. There would be no human race if this monumental task was up to us. I get allergies and I complain. I've seen many friends, colleagues, relatives and even my sister go through a pregnancy, but you never quite understand its complexity until you see someone go through it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 9

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-43010832125520509622010-04-25T21:49:00.001-04:002010-04-25T21:50:18.567-04:00

A recent blog post by Bob Johnson asked if taglines were important in higher ed and whether finding one that resonated internally and externally was an impossible task. I think that you can certainly find one that fits for all of your audiences. It takes a lot of research - primary, secondary, quantitative, qualitative, anecdotal; and it takes a lot of energy. But it can be done. Making it

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-45093917383922583082010-04-23T17:29:00.003-04:002011-04-17T08:16:24.557-04:00

At my institution, we have seen a lot of activity from admitted and deposited students over the past month on our Facebook Fan page. In comparison to past years, the number of unique page views and the number of interactions during these first three weeks in April have doubled. What I am seeing more of this year are the process and deadline-oriented questions. It has led me to truly expand our

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-47759389913699006302010-03-07T08:36:00.001-05:002010-03-07T08:36:00.189-05:00

Networking.  At certain stages in one's life, it's a necessary means to progressing to that next stage in your life. Some enjoy it; others despise it.  Some excel at it; others do not. Well, I'm not really into networking but I do like to talk.  I've learned to really love conversation lately; especially about things I truly enjoy - becoming a dad, sports, higher education, social

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-8292768866158961332010-02-15T23:01:00.002-05:002011-04-17T08:15:46.726-04:00

I was lucky enough to speak at last month's CASE Conference.  After being connected through a mutual past colleague, I was even luckier to co-present with Tamsen McMahon of Sametz Blackstone Associates on the Why and Why Nots of Social Media. The presentation was jam-packed as social media was definitely a buzz topic over the two days I was at the conference. There were many questions

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-10485127741868028902010-02-13T18:18:00.003-05:002010-02-14T00:24:04.943-05:00

A recent tweet by a friend that runs the barnerblog, a blog about his thoughts on music and more, motivated me to share my love for music.  All kinds of music. Even teen pop. A one hour commute can lead to many things - catching up on phone calls, car karaoke, marketing ideas, and the horrible habit of texting/blackberrying at stops in traffic or lights (no more carexting&

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-47862801640570364242010-02-09T22:30:00.002-05:002010-02-09T22:33:38.444-05:00

Many times in an organization or a sports team, there comes a time when new leadership is necessary to take your oganization or your team to the next level.  In start-up ventures, you see this moment of transition being even more important.  There comes a point where the business' founder realizes he or she does not have the skillset and expertise to bring the organization to

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-9741027398269687052010-01-17T23:05:00.002-05:002010-01-17T23:14:30.733-05:00

Now, as everyone does, I see a lot of movies. The disclaimer is that I don't often dislike the movies that I see as 99% of them do what I hope they do. I watch a movie hoping it will take me out of my current element and provide me the opportunity to live in a different world for 90 or 120 minutes...or sometimes even longer if you're talking about Avatar. I'm easily entertained but

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-76802629569154077662010-01-14T23:02:00.001-05:002011-01-18T10:45:24.720-05:00

I am always amazed by the vareity of songs from the radio that I tend to listen to.  The two set lists below were from some recent commutes, of which I have a long one. Many days I end up listening to sports talk radio, but there are others where I lean on the radio to pump out some good songs.  Both of these rides were at the end of the work day, when it is even more

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-51237434221312856192010-01-03T21:38:00.004-05:002010-01-03T21:54:46.996-05:00

I have had a lot of marketing conversations lately that have led me back to sharing my foundamental marketing belief - it's all about your current customers. I don't care what industry you are in.  The core of your business are your current customers and they always need to be an audience of focus. They are your brand. They know your value proposition better than you do. They are

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2733779807062522471.post-29117470414225894502010-01-02T09:05:00.015-05:002010-08-07T23:47:38.989-04:00

I've recently been sharing the great news that my wife and I will be expecting a baby in 2010.  While I have not been shouting it off the rooftops of every social network, the news is pretty public at this point.  For some reason, I just have not been comfortable spreading the initial news through a status update or tweet. A couple weeks back, we hit the stage

Gene Beginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12235213010461419140noreply@blogger.com0