Make friends before you need favors. Then it’s just friendship, not networking.

Nobody enjoys being contacted only when they are useful. A message that arrives with a request attached tells the other person exactly what they were for. Friendships built while nothing was needed carry weight later, because the help is a side effect rather than the point. The difference is not strategy, it is whether you liked the person first.

Think of somebody you only message when you want something. Send them something with no ask in it this week: a question about their thing, a photo, a congratulations. Do that with two or three people and you will never need to network.