Networking without feeling pushy - any advice?

I sent 17 messages on a professional network and got two replies. Some people reply with short answers. How do you phrase the request?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Follow up with a thank-you and a short update. One of my chats led to a referral a month later.