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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).

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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.

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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

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Example Request

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

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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.

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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."
  }
}

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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
    }
  ]
}

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First Name vs Full Name

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

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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.