The iconic image of a social movement is the mass demonstration, and American history is littered with plenty of them, representing causes, good and bad. Washington, DC is a magnet for mass demonstrations, and the Resistance to Trump I was marked by the largest one-day demonstration in history, the Women’s March, and a parade of more focused demonstrations on climate, science, immigration, reproductive rights, and more.

Across the country, we’ve seen demonstrations against Trump and against a range of provocative, often dangerous, policies. Last week, organizers staged public protests in all 50 states, but the news has been dominated by the offenses of the Administration. And, at least so far, the Trump Resistance II hasn’t generated the numbers and pictures of Resistance I.

But the mass protest is just one social movement tactic. Big demonstrations are easier to see and count than most other tactics, and the colorful drama they create makes for good, very simplified, stories about movements and social change. Historians and social scientists can’t miss them, unlike much less visible events in church basements and around kitchen tables. Effective movements don’t always stage such demonstrations, however, and even a series of big demonstrations isn’t enough to change the world. Notably, Trump Resistance I and Occupy stiffened the spines of Democratic Party politicians, and altered mainstream political discourse, but they didn’t win much. More notably, the massive demonstrations of the Arab Spring achieved none of the democratic reforms protesters demanded.

Effective movements don’t always stage big demonstrations, and they always do more than demonstrate. Wave I and Wave II feminists staged parades and demonstrations, but the smaller meetings where women shared grievances and activist strategies animated longer-lasting commitments. Abortion rights activists, often against the law, provided referrals and services. Racist nationalists built and protected enclaves safe for their rhetoric and insulated from outsiders. Many campaigns work to create in miniature the kind of society they want to live in, adopting different language, diets, or lifestyles. Anti-immigrant protesters ceremoniously patrolled pieces of the border, while their opponents left water in the desert for migrants walking. Al Gore promoted climate change activism by giving Keynote talks virtually anyplace that would have him. Virtually all movements engage in public education, promoting research (sometimes serious, sometimes scurrilous) to demonstrate the urgency of their concerns and paths forward. Advocates file lawsuits, make movies, write books, and give talks. They mobilize the law and change public opinion. And effective movements in the United States engage mainstream politics, circulating petitions, recruiting and supporting candidates, and pressuring elected officials.

Alas, there isn’t a magic recipe that guarantees visibility, much less policy influence. Strategies develop out of the resources and beliefs of activists, as well as available opportunities and the nature of grievances. The kinds of dramatic sit-ins that characterized periods of civil rights and labor activism make less sense now.

Before social media, large demonstrations grew out of lots of local organizing. That’s less true now, but the need for local organizing for everything else remains. Watch the small demonstrations, the lobbying and the filibusters, and the specific forms of resistance to each Trump initiative as a more complicated story emerges.