LinkedIn Mentions - Ordinal Docs

Overview

LinkedIn uses a special mention format to tag people and companies in posts and comments. Unlike platforms like Twitter where you can simply use @username, LinkedIn requires a specific format that includes the account’s URN (Uniform Resource Name).

Mention Format

To mention someone on LinkedIn, use this format in your copy field:

@[Display Name](urn)

For example:

Person: @[John Doe](urn:li:person:ABC123xyz)
Company: @[Acme Inc](urn:li:organization:123456)

When the post is published, LinkedIn will convert these into clickable profile links and notify the tagged accounts.

Finding URNs

Use the Mention format by username endpoint to look up URNs by LinkedIn username. The username is the part after /in/ or /company/ in a LinkedIn profile URL:

linkedin.com/in/johndoe → johndoe
linkedin.com/company/acme-inc → acme-inc

Example Request

curl -X GET "https://app.tryordinal.com/api/v1/linkedin/johndoe/mentions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Example Response

{
  "user": {
    "username": "johndoe",
    "urn": "urn:li:person:ABC123xyz",
    "type": "User",
    "displayName": "John Doe",
    "firstName": "John",
    "mentionFormat": "@[John Doe](urn:li:person:ABC123xyz)",
    "firstNameMentionFormat": "@[John](urn:li:person:ABC123xyz)"
  },
  "organization": null
}

The response includes pre-formatted mentionFormat strings that you can copy directly into your post content.

Looking up profiles by URN

If you already have a URN and need to resolve it to a username, name, or profile picture, use the Get LinkedIn profile by URN endpoint.

Example request

curl -X GET "https://app.tryordinal.com/api/v1/linkedin/profile/urn:li:person:ABC123xyz" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Example response

{
  "urn": "urn:li:person:ABC123xyz",
  "username": "johndoe",
  "name": "John Doe",
  "profileImageUrl": "https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/photo.jpg",
  "type": "User"
}

This works for both person and organization URNs.

Using Mentions in Posts

Include the mention format directly in your post copy:

{
  "title": "Product Launch",
  "publishAt": "2026-01-20T14:00:00.000Z",
  "status": "Scheduled",
  "linkedIn": {
    "profileId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440001",
    "copy": "Excited to announce our partnership with @[Acme Inc](urn:li:organization:123456)!\n\nHuge thanks to @[John Doe](urn:li:person:ABC123xyz) for making this happen."
  }
}

Using Mentions in Engagements

Mentions also work in auto-engagement comments and reposts:

{
  "channel": "LinkedIn",
  "engagements": [
    {
      "type": "Comment",
      "profileId": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440002",
      "copy": "Great insights @[Jane Smith](urn:li:person:XYZ789abc)! What do you think about this?",
      "delaySeconds": 300
    }
  ]
}

First Name vs Full Name

For personal profiles, you can choose to display just the first name:

Format	Result on LinkedIn
`@[John Doe](urn:li:person:ABC123)`	John Doe
`@[John](urn:li:person:ABC123)`	John

The mention lookup endpoint provides both mentionFormat (full name) and firstNameMentionFormat (first name only) for convenience.

Important Notes

The display name in the mention must be a prefix of the account’s actual name. For example, if the account name is “John Doe”, you can use @[John Doe] or @[John], but not @[Johnny] or @[J. Doe].

Mentions are only supported on LinkedIn. For X (Twitter), use the standard @username format directly in your post copy.

​Overview

​Mention Format

​Finding URNs

​Example Request

​Example Response

​Looking up profiles by URN

​Example request

​Example response

​Using Mentions in Posts

​Using Mentions in Engagements

​First Name vs Full Name

​Important Notes

Overview

Mention Format

Finding URNs

Example Request

Example Response

Looking up profiles by URN

Example request

Example response

Using Mentions in Posts

Using Mentions in Engagements

First Name vs Full Name

Important Notes