How do you keep your staff in an innovative gear? Make creativity programs a part of your company culture.

That, and more, in today’s Social Media Roundup:

Internal Innovation

https://twitter.com/ThadLurie/status/349525059209146368

Sometimes, what we need is time—time to innovate, brainstorm, get creative. The professional social network LinkedIn has developed several programs to encourage innovation among its staff, including what it calls the “[in]cubator,” which allows staff to develop and pitch ideas to executives. If an idea is approved, LinkedIn gives employees the resources they need to make the idea a reality. “In addition to our talent, in addition to the culture and in addition to the infrastructure, there are some very specific activities and processes we’ve set up that enable people to think more creatively,” LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner told Worldmakers. What type of program would support your employees’ creative process? (ht @ThadLurie)

Create Your Own Category

https://twitter.com/jcufaude/status/349164785243414531

The benefits of being first: How cool would it be to develop a product that’s never existed before? The Cambridge Group’s Eddie Yoon and Linda Deeken, writing for Harvard Business Review, argue that developing something completely new—what they call “creating a category”—is the trick to steady profitability and growth. “Category creators experience much faster growth and receive much higher valuations from investors than companies bringing only incremental innovations to market,” they write. Startups take the lead on this front. “Although large companies have the resources, capabilities, and growth aspirations to drive category creation,” Yoon and Deen continue, “many market leaders merely sit on the sidelines watching new entrants create breakthrough products and business models.” How are you helping your industry explore category creation opportunities? (ht @jcufaude)

What links have you been sharing today? Let us know in the comments.

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