Hearing from people, understanding what is important to them

Reading local newspapers

Reading electronic discussion lists (Yahoo, Google groups)

Reading blogs and discussion boards

Attending meetings and listening

Following group activity on Facebook

Following journalists, electeds, bloggers, policy wonks, advocates, community leaders on Twitter

Storytelling

Twitter

Use a dashboard (such as Tweetdeck ) to track your feed, mentions, searches, and scheduled tweets. Use Twitter to add GIFs.

) to track your feed, mentions, searches, and scheduled tweets. Use to add GIFs. Use GIFs, emojis, photos, images (don't use too many at one time)

Use hashtags (no more than two at a time)

Free

Facebook

Engage in conversations

Plan events

Use images, videos, GIFs

Post media reports, blog posts

Free

LinkedIn

Connect with others, share information, ask questions

Publish articles

Join groups

Free

Buffer

If you are posting to multiple social media platforms, Buffer lets you do that easily and effectively, all at one time.

Free

#Storify

Canva

Create images easily. There are what seems to be a gazillion free icons and photographs along with typefaces, design templates, pre-set sizes, and the ability to customize dimensions. There is also a tremendous selection of size and design templates from which to choose.

Can download in .jpg, .png, PDF

Free and paid

Freeimages has more than 400,000 images available to use for free. The quality varies from professional to not. The search tool works well to narrow selections.

has more than 400,000 images available to use for free. The quality varies from professional to not. The search tool works well to narrow selections. Pexels photos are gorgeous. They are free and licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.

photos are gorgeous. They are free and licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. Look for additional sites in the Medium post 10 "Must Go To" Sites For Free Images For Blogs and search many sites at one time on LibreStock .

Understanding government

Get your hands on the government's org chart and informal/unwritten decision processes

Figure out who does what. This isn't always obvious, so ask!

Get contact information for electeds, appointeds, and staff

Establish and maintain good working relationships

Get a handle of what's going on―meetings, legislation, regulation, etc.

Have a posse

Find a colleague (or two or five) who can be a sounding board, explain things, etc.

This scene from Working Girl captures what the collaboration is like, for me at least.

Keep learning

Your posse can help with this

Read, read, read. Some of my must-read sources are Medium , Fast Company , and several international papers and websites.

, , and several international papers and websites. Watch. I watch vids and read articles on TED . YouTube is also a terrific source. Some of my favorite channels are 92nd Street Y, Harvard's Berkman Klein Center, Commonwealth Club, and National Constitution Center.