After connecting with someone new on LinkedIn, it can be beneficial to send them a follow up message to start building the relationship. A thoughtful, personalized message shows you are genuinely interested in connecting, not just blindly expanding your network. Follow ups also present an opportunity to share more about yourself, express why you wanted to connect, and set the stage for future conversations. When crafted strategically, follow up messages can lead to meaningful professional relationships, insightful industry discussions, and even new career opportunities down the road.
Thank them for connecting
The first thing your message should do is thank the other person for accepting your connection request. A simple “Thank you for connecting!” or “It was great to connect with you!” expresses gratitude while acknowledging the new link between you. If they included any kind of note when accepting, reference that as well to show you read their message. Personalizing this introduction is key – you want to demonstrate that you aren’t spamming your entire network with identical phrases.
Remind them who you are and how you’re connected
Since acceptances happen outside of the original request, the person may need a simple reminder of who you are and your relationship. Briefly jog their memory by saying something like “This is [Your Name] from [Company/School/Group]” or “We were introduced through [Mutual Connection]”. You can also remind them of specific conversations you’ve had, events you’ve met at, or classes you’ve taken together. The goal here is refreshing their memory so they have context for your outreach.
Explain why you wanted to connect
Now that you’ve reminded them of your existing relationship, provide more details on why you wanted to connect on LinkedIn specifically. Are you looking to strengthen professional ties because you’re in the same industry? Hoping to network within your alumni community? Excited to stay updated on their career journey? Articulating your motivations shows this is not a random connection request and makes the value clear upfront.
For example, “I am looking to expand my network of other marketing professionals here in Chicago, and would love to stay connected to exchange best practices and industry insights.” Outlining shared interests, goals, or networks helps the person understand what you’re hoping to gain.
Ask a thoughtful question based on their background
Follow up messages also present a great opportunity to demonstrate shared interests, ask for advice, or spark interesting discussions. Review the person’s profile and come up with a unique question based on their background, expertise, career path, location, hobbies, volunteer work, or more. This shows you took time to get to know them before reaching out.
Some examples could be asking for a restaurant recommendation in their city, their advice on breaking into a certain industry, insights on volunteering with an organization listed on their profile, or suggestions for utilizing a skill they have. The more customized your question, the better.
Suggest meeting or talking live
If there is significant alignment between you and this connection, suggest following up over coffee, a phone call, or a video chat. This takes the budding relationship to the next level by meeting in person or talking live. Of course, only extend this invitation if you already have established common ground and truly think you’d benefit from spending more time together. Informational interviews, mentorship meetings, and general networking can develop through these types offollow ups.
For instance, “I’d love to hear more about your experiences with user research in the edtech industry. Would you be open to discussing over coffee sometime this month when you’re free?” Just be conscious of their time and schedule before proposing a live meeting.
Share something about yourself
While you want to focus mainly on learning about the other person, follow ups present a chance to share a bit more about yourself as well. Consider highlighting recent news at your company, a project or achievement you’re proud of, an upcoming event you’re attending, or a fun personal tidbit like recent travel. Sprinkling in these authentic details helps turn a robotic outreach note into a relationship building message.
You could say, “On a personal note, my wife and I just got back from an amazing trip to Thailand. We spent a week exploring Bangkok and hiking the jungles in Chiang Mai. It was an unforgettable experience – let me know if you ever need recommendations for visiting Thailand!”
Express enthusiasm for staying in touch
Wrap up your follow up message by reiterating enthusiasm for your new connection. This serves as a nice bookend reminding the recipient about the intention behind your outreach. To end on a warm, engaging note, say something like “So glad we’re now connected!” or “Looking forward to staying in touch!”
You can also suggest meeting again at an upcoming event: “Hope to see you at the Chicago Tech Conference next month – let’s connect there as well!” Maintain an upbeat, positive tone that keeps the door open for future conversations.
Keep it brief
While personalized and thoughtful, follow up messages should remain concise and scannable out of respect for the recipient’s time. Aim to keep your note under 5-6 sentences or 3 short paragraphs. You want to avoid giant blocks of text that feel like a burden to read through.
Stick to the highlights of who you are, why you connected, something interesting you want to discuss, and optimism about the new connection. Additional details can always be elaborated on in future messages.
Allow extra response time
When determining your follow up timing, give the person ample space to respond. Since LinkedIn notifications can get easily buried, allow 7-10 days before following up again to confirm they received your note. People are busy, so patience is key when nurturing budding relationships.
If you haven’t heard back after 7-10 days, a quick check-in is fine: “Hi [Name], just wanted to make sure you received my earlier message. Looking forward to connecting more!” This gently reminds them without being perceived as pushy.
Follow up again if the conversation continues
Ideally your outreach will spark an engaging back-and-forth dialogue on LinkedIn. If you find yourself exchanging multiple messages about industry insights, career advice, or shared interests, continue following up to advance the conversation.
However, you want to avoid overstaying your welcome or dominating their time. Gauge their level of responsiveness, availability, and depth of responses to determine how frequently to continue reaching out. Follow their lead on the cadence they seem most comfortable with.
Connect in person when possible
At a certain point, you will likely want to bring an enriching LinkedIn conversation offline. Transitioning to in-person events, coffee meetings, or calls/video chats can strengthen the relationship exponentially. Suggest meeting up at an industry conference, networking event, trade show, or other public location. Moving to a face-to-face setting advances many LinkedIn connections to rewarding mentorships, collaborations, and friendships over time.
Send valuable content
In addition to thoughtful messages, you can also nurture relationships by regularly sharing valuable content with your connections. Forward relevant articles, podcast episodes, blog posts, or videos they may find interesting based on their industry, role, company, interests, location, etc. Include a quick personalized note explaining why you thought of them.
This shows you are continually engaging with their profile and want to provide tailored value – not just spam everyone with random links. Article and content sharing is a highly effective relationship building tactic on an ongoing basis.
Respect boundaries
When reaching out to new connections, always respect boundaries and their time. While prompt, personalized follow up messages are encouraged, constant bombardment is not. Give people adequate space to respond at a comfortable cadence for them.
And if someone seems unresponsive or disinterested, avoid taking it personally. Not every connection pans out into a deeper relationship – and that is perfectly okay. Politely disengage and refocus energy on more receptive contacts likely to lead to mutually beneficial exchanges.
Customize for different contact types
While many strategies apply across the board, you may want to tailor your follow up approach based on the type of contact.
For peers and colleagues, focus on establishing common ground through industry insights, career updates, company happenings, and future events. The goal is building camaraderie and trust through professional information sharing.
Higher level leaders and executives will appreciate conversations around mentorship, growth, and career development. Ask thoughtful advice about navigating your current role or progressing to the next level while demonstrating your own expertise.
With recruiters and HR contacts, subtly expressing interest in new opportunities or pipeline roles is appropriate. But avoid actively pitching yourself or fishing for a job unless they explicitly invite it. Warmly stay connected and let conversations unfold organically.
Prospects and potential clients will want to discuss business-building partnerships and collaborative problem solving. Share how you can add value to their work through your unique skillset and experience.
The more you tailor messaging by contact type, the more effective your follow ups will be moving relationships forward meaningfully.
Connect on additional platforms
Once there is an established rapport on LinkedIn, look for opportunities to connect across additional platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. This strengthens bonds through expanded visibility into each other’s interests, personalities, families, friend groups, and more on other social channels.
Just be sure to keep your outreach consistent with the tone established on LinkedIn. And as always, defer to the other person’s comfort level in connecting further. If they prefer to keep the relationship contained to LinkedIn, respect that boundary.
Avoid common follow up mistakes
While personalized, value-focused messages are ideal, there are a few follow up approaches to avoid:
- Sending the exact same generic note to everyone.
- Immediately pitching your product or service.
- Requesting confidential company information.
- Asking for a job or endorsement right away.
- Having typos or incorrect contact info.
- Not referencing previous conversations.
- Spamming with constant messages.
These turn off recipients, demonstrate laziness, and damage your professional reputation. Always take the time to craft thoughtful, tailored messages free of overt self-promotion.
Track your follow up effectiveness
To improve your outreach approach over time, track factors like open rates, response rates, and conversation lengths with different message types. Study which follow up strategies produce the highest quality connections vs. shallow link building.
Software tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Mixmax provide analytics to refine techniques. Or simply note manually in a spreadsheet when messages lead to significant career help, business deals, or high-impact relationships. Analysis yields insights for crafting even better follow ups moving forward.
Summary
In summary, follow up messages present a valuable opportunity to strengthen LinkedIn relationships beyond basic profile connections. Thanking the person, refreshing their memory, conveying your outreach goals, asking thoughtful questions, sharing about yourself, suggesting meetings, and sending relevant content are all effective follow up strategies when done strategically. With refined techniques, you can turn new contacts into fulfilling professional relationships leading to career growth, new business, and meaningful connections.