I think Day Three is the most critical day in mafia. Someone has to take control and be town leader. (or you can have multiple leaders too, maybe) If you try before then, you're going to have the town trying to lynch you (see: Mafia VII, Day 1! Day 2 I just pretty much said "if you pull that crap on me again, I will smurfing shoot you". xD). I don't know why but anyone talking gets taken down on day one and day two - even if you're pro-town, act pro-town, talk pro-town - and there's nothing you can do about it. Just learn from it, and watch who does what on Day Three and make your move.

Otherwise you're just going to keep on drifting and drifting and it'll all be too late. You shouldn't write Day 1 and Day 2 off as a loss though. Make a few testing posts here and there if you want, but don't go all-out on anybody yet.

EDIT: although that's not to say you should blindly follow someone like me (although it helps ). Look at qwerty! He never listens to my crackpot ramblings and does his own thing and he's a very decent player indeed.