You can use social media to reach out to someone you may not know or have a connection to.
You can also use it to find information out about someone. Say you have a meeting with the city mayor, you can look him up on social media and find out if you have any common interests or a child the same age as yours, something that can provide a personal connect and common ground for you to base your relationship growth on.
Use LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great tool to find people in your community that are thought starters and activists. You can also look up local organizations and find people who work for them to help make partnership contacts and reach out via LinkedIn.