It is now conventional wisdom that any marketer worth her salt is actively marketing her brand on Facebook and Twitter. But LinkedIn?
The buttoned-down social network may have more than 225 million users, but it's not generally considered a hotbed of marketing experimentation. Perversely, that makes it a better destination for marketers — virgin territory where clever promotions can stand out. In many cases, LinkedIn has been eager to join in. The company's Sponsored Updates encouraged marketers to tap non-traditional advertising methods and experiment with native ads.
See also: 4 Ways to Write LinkedIn Messages That Actually Get Read
Since the efforts are so new, there are just a handful of examples of marketers executing truly creative programs on LinkedIn. The eight below are not the final word, but a fairly comprehensive list of how some of the world's biggest marketers are exploiting LinkedIn.
In LinkedIn's first ad partnership with a Hollywood studio, it promoted The Butler with Sponsored Updates using LinkedIn's custom API solution for a contest called Path to Success. The contest invited users to enter to win a "career experience of a lifetime" in New York City. Three winners got access to a top recruiter, an executive and a career coach.
Aiming to put a "modern twist on the long-held tradition of networking on the golf course," Callaway introduced the Hit the Links app, which let users scrape their contact list and pick a dream team of four players (presumably including themselves), which were entered to win a golf “business” trip that included a custom club fitting at Callaway’s Headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif., and a round of golf.

Citi worked with LinkedIn to launch Connect: Professional Women's Network, an online forum moderated by a dedicated LinkedIn community manager. Discussions among the 181,000-person-strong group are user-generated and include video, news and polls. The news content is also shared via LinkedIn Today Special Edition, which is tailored for professional women.
Van Heusen shirts ran a contest in India looking for the "Most Fashionable Professional." The effort, which ran for one month, targeted 1.5 million LinkedIn users and netted 30,000 unique visitors, 5,000 of which logged on to nominate 15,000 connections.

DoubleTree created a location-based app that was designed to let event planners make company meetings easier to plan and connect LinkedIn user with connections at nearby DoubleTree hotels.
Microsoft launched an app called Nametag Analyzer that analyzed a member's LinkedIn profile to provide a unique nametag to show what the user's professional identity should be. The app also suggested new skills to add to your profile.

The underwear and sock brand recently launched a promotion in which it sent a LinkedIn message to users who changed jobs or got a new job in the last 30 days. The message let them claim a complimentary of Fruit of the Loom, because "great-fitting underwear can help you start your workday in a great mood.”
The studio didn't work with LinkedIn, but instead worked around it for a promotion in which a recruiter named James Holm claimed to be representing the Weyland Corp. from the movie:
Hello; my name is James Holm, corporate recruiter for the Weyland Corporation. We’re currently looking for candidates to play a significant role in Project Prometheus, a highly classified initiative we’ve been developing for decades now. We feel that your work in design and technology, along with your interest in the cerebrum, suggest you might be an excellent candidate for our sciences division.
The note then led to a URL affiliated with the film.
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Images: Getty/Scott Halleran, Getty/Mario Tama, Fruit of the Loom, Flickr/W.Guy Finley