Networking follow-up messages over WhatsApp and text: templates

Send your first networking follow-up within 24 hours of meeting someone, ideally the same evening. Put your name and where you met in the first line (they may not have saved your number yet), mention one specific thing you talked about, and suggest a small next step if there is one. Then keep it light: something useful within about two weeks, a short check-in every two to three months, and congratulations when they share news. Over WhatsApp or iMessage, each message should be two or three short lines.

Most follow-up advice is written for email. Texting is different: messages are shorter and more personal, and they land on someone’s phone next to their friends’ chats. This guide covers when texting is the right channel, a follow-up timeline, 13 templates written for messaging apps, etiquette, and what to do when someone doesn’t reply.

Why following up is worth the awkwardness

Following up feels presumptuous to many people, but the research suggests it’s more welcome, and more useful, than it feels.

• They probably liked you more than you think. Across several studies, Erica Boothby and colleagues found that after a conversation people systematically underestimate how much their partner liked them and enjoyed their company, an effect they called the liking gap. It showed up between strangers in the lab and persisted for months among new dorm mates.
• Weaker ties carry opportunities. In experiments on LinkedIn involving more than 20 million people, researchers found that moderately weak ties, not your closest contacts, did the most for job mobility, though the effect varied by industry. The people you meet once at an event are exactly those ties.
• Old contacts are worth reviving. In research published in 2011, when hundreds of executives reconnected with people they hadn’t been in contact with for three years or more, these dormant ties proved as valuable as their current contacts, often more so, and their insights tended to be more novel.

When is it OK to follow up by text instead of email?

Follow up in the channel the person offered. If they gave you their number, added you on WhatsApp or said “text me”, messaging is fine and often better than email. If they gave you an email address or a LinkedIn connection, use that.

Situation	Best channel for the first follow-up
They gave you their number or added you on WhatsApp or Telegram	That messaging app
You swapped LinkedIn profiles only	A LinkedIn message
They handed you a business card with an email address	Email
A mutual contact shared their number	Ask the mutual contact first whether it’s OK to text
A senior or formal contact you met briefly	Email first, unless they explicitly offered their number
An informal meetup where everyone was in a WhatsApp group	A direct message, mentioning the group

Never text a number you found online or got without the person’s permission. It undoes the goodwill the conversation created.

The follow-up timeline

A simple rhythm keeps you present without being pushy.

When	What to send	Why
Within 24 hours	Thanks, one specific detail, a small next step	Your number gets saved with context while they still remember you
When you said you would	The link, introduction or resource you promised	Keeping small promises builds trust
About two weeks later	Something useful to them, with no ask	Giving before asking
Every two to three months	A short check-in about their work or news	Keeps you in their circle for the contacts who matter most
When they share news	Congratulations	Easy to send and almost always welcome
After a long silence	A reconnect message	Dormant ties are often worth reviving
When you need something	A clear, specific, easy-to-decline ask	A small, concrete ask is easier to say yes to

For most professional contacts, the every-two-to-three-months touch is only for the ones you genuinely want to stay close to. For everyone else, congratulations on news and the occasional useful link are enough.

Networking follow-up templates for WhatsApp and iMessage

Example messages, made up for this guide. Rewrite them in your own words: a follow-up that reads like a template defeats the point.

1. The same evening, after an event

Hi Priya, it’s Sam Lee, we met at the climate-tech meetup tonight (broken lanyard guy). Really enjoyed hearing about your battery-recycling pilot. Would you be up for a coffee in the next couple of weeks?

2. After a coffee or a call

Thanks again for the coffee today, Marcus. Your point about pricing per seat instead of per project is going straight into my proposal. I’ll send that podcast episode tonight.

3. After hearing someone speak, when they gave you their number

Hi Dr Okafor, Sam Lee here, you gave me your number after the panel at the health-data summit. Your clinic-scheduling example has stuck with me. Could I ask you two quick questions about it sometime this month?

4. After a careers fair or a recruiter conversation

Hi Jordan, Sam Lee, we spoke at the Northside careers fair about the junior analyst role. I’ve applied today and included a case study like you suggested. Thanks for the tip.

5. Sending what you promised

As promised, here’s the piece on community-led growth I mentioned: [link]. The section on pricing is the bit I was talking about.

6. Something useful, about two weeks later

Saw this and thought of your hiring problem: [link]. No need to reply, it just seemed relevant.

7. The two-to-three-month check-in

Hi Marcus, hope the launch went well. Did the per-seat pricing survive contact with real customers?

8. Congratulations

Just saw the news about the new role. Congratulations, they’re lucky to have you.

9. Asking for advice

Hi Priya, could I ask your advice on something? I’m choosing between two battery suppliers and you clearly know the space. Ten minutes on a call next week would help a lot, and no worries at all if you’re swamped.

10. Asking for an introduction (send two messages)

Hi Marcus, would you be comfortable introducing me to Dana at Fieldwork? I’d love to ask her how they priced their first enterprise deal. Here’s a short note you can forward to her if that’s easier:

Sam Lee runs a two-person analytics studio in Leeds and would love 15 minutes with Dana to ask how Fieldwork priced its first enterprise deal. Happy to work around her schedule.

Sending the forwardable note as its own message means your contact can forward it unchanged. For how introductions work from the introducer’s side, see how to introduce two people over text.

11. Reconnecting after a year or more

Hi Elena, Sam Lee here, we worked together on the Halden project a couple of years ago. I saw you’ve moved to Lisbon, that’s brilliant. How are you finding it?

12. One nudge after no reply

Hi Jordan, floating this back up in case it got buried. Totally fine if now isn’t a good time.

13. Closing the loop after someone helped

Quick update: I took your advice and went with the second supplier, and it saved us about three weeks. Thank you again.

Texting etiquette for professional contacts

Messaging apps make professional follow-ups faster and warmer, but a few habits separate thoughtful from intrusive.

• Identify yourself in the first line. Name and where you met, every time, until you’re sure they’ve saved your number.
• One message, not five bubbles. Write the whole thought, then send.
• Send during their working hours. If you’re writing late or across time zones, schedule it. On a Mac, Messages can schedule an iMessage up to 14 days ahead with Send Later (macOS 15 or later), and Telegram lets you hold the Send button and choose Schedule Message.
• No voice notes unless they send them first. Many people can’t play audio at work.
• Don’t add anyone to a group without asking.
• Don’t mention read receipts or “last seen”. Being read and not answered is normal for busy people.
• Follow their lead on channel and tone. If they reply by email or move you to LinkedIn, continue there. Mirror their level of formality and emoji use.
• No pitch in the first follow-up. Build the relationship first; the ask can come later.

What to do when someone doesn’t reply

Send one short nudge after about a week (template 12), then stop. Silence usually means busy, not no. Wait for a natural reason to get back in touch, such as news to congratulate them on or something useful to share, and when you do, don’t mention the unanswered message.

If you’re the one who went quiet and want to restart a conversation, what to say when you forgot to text someone back has scripts sorted by how late you are.

How to keep track of a professional network

You need four facts per person: where you met, what you discussed, the next step, and the date of your last contact. A note on their contact card or a simple spreadsheet is enough for a few dozen people.

If your network lives mostly on LinkedIn and email, a personal CRM such as Dex or Mesh is the better tool, because it syncs those sources (see our Dex alternatives comparison). If it lives in messaging apps, the tools differ a lot in what they actually read; we compare them in personal CRMs with WhatsApp and iMessage.

Tera Chat, our Mac app, is built for the messaging side. It puts iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram conversations in one inbox, flags chats that are fading and questions you never answered, and, once AI is set up, picks up news like a new job from your chats and drafts replies in your own style, with a different tone for contacts you tag as colleagues or business. It doesn’t connect LinkedIn or email, and it runs only on Macs with Apple silicon and macOS 15 or later.

The underlying habit is the same whichever tool you use: follow up within a day, give before you ask, and stay in touch a little and often. The same rhythm-by-closeness approach we recommend for friends, explained in how to keep in touch with friends as an adult, works for the professional contacts you care about most.