The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA National) has announced a new award designed to recognize professional insurance agencies for excellence in their use of social media in a business setting.

The Washington, D.C.-based agents’ group said its National Excellence in Social Media Award will be bestowed to a deserving PIA member insurance agency using social media to achieve its business goals.

“A new digital world has developed where people are always talking, interacting and doing business,” said PIA National Executive Vice President and CEO Leonard C. Brevik in a statement. “It’s a world where professional insurance agents can market their products and achieve greater success through the use of social media tools. Many PIA agencies are already at the cutting edge, using these tools to build their businesses and serve their customers.”

From Facebook to Twitter, YouTube to MySpace, Brevik said social media “is all about community, all about connecting.

“Main Street insurance agents are part of their communities and are using these new social media tools to connect to their neighbors in new ways,” he said.

PIA National has undertaken initiatives to provide agents with the tools to understand Internet and social media marketing, the group said, including a new online tool for agencies entitled “Reaching Gen Y And Making The Internet Work For You” and sharing news through Twitter.

The inaugural social media award will be presented Oct. 2 at a luncheon ceremony in Traverse City, Mich., where PIA National’s Company Award of Excellence, Company Representative of the Year and Managing General Agency of the Year awards will also be awarded.

Individual PIA members wishing to submit nominations can download nomination forms at PIA National’s website.