I stay in touch with my network by thinking of each in three categories: Active exchange, following up, and long-term outreach.

I consider “active exchange” as staying in touch around specific deliverables. I owe a response to someone, or I’m expecting a response back. I am often working with these contacts on something specific. We are corresponding actively. I try to return emails within twenty-four hours. Sometimes I need more time when my deliverable takes more time. I will reply quickly to set expectations that I need more time, and I work on getting back to people within a week.

I often reach a point where the active exchange gets put on pause. This pause can be due to a competing priority, vacation, or any number of reasons. The discussion then moves to “following up”. I make a note on my calendar to follow up no more than one to two months in the future so we both remember the specific active exchange topic.

Finally, I try and keep in touch with folks once or twice a year outside of active exchanges. I am not always great at keeping this cadence with everyone in my network. A quick search of my email is often good enough to see when I last heard from a contact. There are paid tools that remind you to stay in touch if you have many people in your network.

Staying connected is important especially this year when we are not seeing people in person as often. Consider the people in your network and categorize them to ensure you stay in touch especially outside of active exchanges.