LinkedIn Growth5 min read
How to Mention Someone in a LinkedIn Post So They Get Notified
How to mention someone in a LinkedIn post the right way: the exact steps, why a name turns blue, who gets notified, and how to tag after publishing.
By Animesh Kudake, Co-founder, Apna Project
The short version
- To mention someone in a LinkedIn post, type the @ symbol, start typing their name, then pick them from the dropdown so the tag becomes a clickable blue link.
- A mention only works if the name turns blue. Plain text that stays black is not a real tag and sends no notification.
- People you mention get notified on LinkedIn and by email, which is why a tag can pull a person into your comment thread.
- You can mention connections, other members, and company Pages, and you can add a mention after posting by editing the post.
- Tag only people who are genuinely relevant. Notifying someone who has nothing to do with the post reads as spam and can get you muted.
Who you can mention, and who gets notified
You can mention individual members and company Pages. When the tag is a real link, the mentioned member gets a notification both on the platform and in their email, which is exactly why tagging is such a useful nudge. Tag a colleague who was part of a project and they are far more likely to see the post, react, and comment, and their comment then exposes your post to their connections.
There is a limit worth knowing. LinkedIn lets members control who can mention or tag them. If someone has tightened that setting, or if you are not connected and their preferences are restrictive, they may not appear in your dropdown at all. That is a feature, not a bug on your end, so do not force it.
How to tag someone after you already posted
Forgot to tag a co-author? You do not need to delete and repost. Open the post, click the More icon in the top right, choose Edit, add your @ mention, and save. The change is live right away and the newly tagged person gets their notification.
This is the cleaner fix than deleting, because reposting resets the post and loses whatever early reactions it had already earned. Editing keeps the momentum. If you want the fuller picture on what editing does and does not change, we cover it in can you edit a LinkedIn post after posting.
Mentioning in comments, not just posts
The same @ mechanic works inside comments, and that is where a lot of the real value sits. Replying to a busy thread and tagging the author, or bringing in one person who would genuinely add to the discussion, is a natural way to get noticed without writing your own post. Just keep it relevant. If you want your comments to earn attention in the first place, how to comment on LinkedIn posts and what to comment on LinkedIn walk through the moves that work.
One habit to avoid: tagging a big name in a comment purely to farm their audience. People notice, and it reads as exactly what it is.
Tagging a company Page is not the same as tagging a person
One detail that trips people up: mentioning a company Page and mentioning a person behave a little differently. When you @ a Page, the tag links to the Page and can surface the post to the Page's admins, but a Page does not get a personal notification the way an individual does. So tagging your employer in a win is great for visibility, but do not assume a specific human saw it. If you want a person to notice, tag the person too.
The other common mix-up is tagging people in photos versus mentioning them in the text. Photo tags are a separate feature with their own visibility rules, and they do not always carry the same notification behavior as an in-text @ mention. When in doubt, use the text mention, because it is the most reliable way to make sure the person both sees the tag and can be clicked through to.
The one rule we would not break
Here is the angle we care about, because commenting and tagging are our whole world at Commenti. A mention is a notification you are choosing to send into someone else's day. Treat it that way. The test we use is simple: would this person be glad you tagged them, or would they wonder why they got pinged?
If a colleague is quoted, a partner is credited, or an expert is genuinely relevant to the point, tag away. They will usually appreciate it and often respond, which is the whole point. But mass-tagging ten connections to juice reach is the tagging equivalent of a cold pitch. It trains people to mute you. The accounts that use mentions well send fewer of them, and every one is welcome. That restraint is what keeps the tool working, for you and for the people on the other end of the notification.
Tag with intent, check that the name is blue before you post, and let the notification do the introducing.
Frequently asked questions
How do I mention someone in a LinkedIn post?
Start or edit a post, type the @ symbol, then begin typing the person's name. LinkedIn shows a dropdown of matching profiles and Pages. Click the correct one so the name turns into a blue clickable link. If it stays black text, the mention did not register and no notification is sent.
Why is my LinkedIn mention not turning blue?
The name only turns blue when you select the person from the dropdown, not when you type it yourself. If the list does not show them, they may have limited who can mention them in their settings, or the name is misspelled. Delete the text, retype the @ symbol, and pick them from the suggestions.
Does the person get notified when I mention them?
Yes. LinkedIn notifies mentioned members both on the platform and by email, as long as the tag is a real blue link. That notification is exactly why tagging works to bring someone into a conversation, and also why tagging people who are not relevant is a fast way to annoy them.
Can I mention someone after I already posted?
Yes. Open the post, click the More icon, choose Edit, then add the @ mention where you want it and save. The edit takes effect immediately. This is useful when you forget to tag a collaborator or want to loop in one more person once a post starts getting traction.
Written by the team building Commenti on real LinkedIn growth data. Found an error? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Accuracy beats winning.
Co-founder, Apna Project
Co-founder at Apna Project, where he helps founders and agencies turn ideas into products. Writes here on LinkedIn growth and what actually earns attention in a comment section. Commenti is the LinkedIn comment automation tool by Ampliflow.
Tagging the right person is one of the quietest growth moves on LinkedIn. Done well, a mention pulls a relevant expert or collaborator straight into your comment thread and puts your post in front of their network too. Done badly, it either sends no notification at all or annoys someone who had nothing to do with what you wrote.
The mechanic looks simple, type @ and a name, but the details are where people trip up. Here is how to mention someone in a LinkedIn post so the tag actually lands, who gets notified, and how to fix the common failure where the name never turns blue.
The exact steps
Per LinkedIn's help documentation on mentions, the flow is the same whether you are writing a fresh post or a comment.
That fourth step is the whole game. The mention is only real once you select the person from the list and the name turns blue. If you type someone's name as plain text and it stays black, you have written their name, not tagged them, and LinkedIn sends nothing.
Why the name turns blue (and why it matters)
The blue link is not cosmetic. It is the signal that LinkedIn has connected your text to a real profile or Page. A proper tag does two things at once: it turns the name into a hyperlink readers can click to reach the profile, and it triggers a notification to that member on LinkedIn and by email.
So the color is your confirmation. Blue means the person will know they were mentioned. Black means they will not. Before you hit post, scan your draft and check that every name you meant to tag is actually a link.