Twitter is an incredibly valuable, vastly underutilized socialmedia channel in the insurance industry.

And that’s saying something, considering insurance firms underutilize socialmedia across the board.

You can’t go a day without hearing predictions of Twitter’simpending demise, but agencies that ignoreTwitter’s potential do so at their own peril. The platform is apowerful tool for sparking meaningful conversations withinfluencers and prospects.

Read: 10 social media tips for marketingand sales

The platform provides a great way to share and curate thoughtleadership content, and it’s a more personal way of connecting withpeople than emailing them cold.

Follow these 4 tips to use Twitter effectively:

1. Get involved in real-time conversations.Follow popular hashtag campaigns, and respond to what otherusers are saying about trending topics. Quote and attributeinsightful ideas that appear in your feed, and contextualizediscussions by linking to articles you find useful.

This kind of Twitter participation is especially important whenyou attend industry events that encourage attendees to tweet usinga particular hashtag. You miss big opportunities if you opt out ofthose conversations.

2. Curate content from organizations yourespect. The beauty of social media is that it doubles asa curation and content creation tool. You don’t have tocreate original content in order to have impact.

You gain credibility through both publishing and sharing, socomment on other companies’ content, and retweet them. Ask yourfollowers for their thoughts to jumpstart conversations within yourindustry circle.

3. Use lists to manage yourinteractions. The volume of information on Twitter can beoverwhelming, so use Twitter lists to organize your consumption. The listfunction allows you to split the people you’re following intochannels based on their industries or types of information theyshare. Segment the users you follow by topic, and check out listson other accounts to find new accounts to follow. It’s a good wayto identify new influencers in your space.

Lists also help to get the attention of people you want to meet.Know of an HR person you’d like to talk to? Boost her ego by addingher to an “HR Experts” list. This puts you on her radar and givesher account visibility. Having a public list of this nature signalsthat you’re someone who pays attention to HR influencers and hasthe pulse of the industry.

4. Leverage your team’s social accounts. Youremployees can act as powerful distribution channels for companyannouncements, but don’t limit them to brand mouthpiece roles.Encourage them to publicly celebrate projects they’ve launched, andlet them offer insights into the company culture via Twitter andother platforms.

Some employers require staff members to create professionalsocial media accounts, but allowing people to use their personalaccounts to comment on work topics brings a more genuine tone tothe conversation.

5. Coordinate social media posts. Cross-postyour Twitter content to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, andGlassdoor when possible. Just remember to format correctly for each of them, as eachchannel will have a slightly different audience. Cross-posting is agreat way to give your SEO a boost.

Don’t break up sentences on Twitter for the sake of sharingautomatically to Facebook. Twitter users expect to get all of theinformation they need in 140 characters, and they’ll click yourlink if they want to learn more. Package your content appropriatelyfor each social forum.

6. Don’t use your Twitter feed as arunning advertisement. Your social media accounts aren’tsimply venues for pushing ads. Leverage the paid ad functionalities, but don’t inundate yourfollowers with promotional content. Nobody likes a narcissist.

If you’re ever in doubt about what types of posts to create,look to the brands you admire. Why do you follow them? Do theirshort, funny tweets entertain you throughout the day? Are theyconstantly publishing and linking to insightful content? Identifywhat works for them, and emulate them in a way that’s authentic toyour company.

The secret to quality engagement is knowing who your audience isand what you hope to accomplish. Focus on sharing knowledge anddriving value, and social success will follow.