Local Joints TV Merges Social Media and Local Community

Social media often works best when using it to involve your local community, and new web show Local Joints TV does this really well.

Hosted by my friend (and part of the 12for12k creative team) Darin Berntson, it’s a mix of entertainment, education and promotion. What’s cool about Local Joints TV is the way that it mixes offline businesses with the distribution of social media.

Not only is it helping local businesses be highlighted, it’s showing them (and others like them) how social media can benefit them when used properly.

What Is Local Joints TV?

In Darin’s own words, Local Joints TV is, “More of Infotainment than a review. It is similar to a show you may see on the Food Network… think Diners Drive-ins and Dives, add a dash of local flavor, social media, and promotion like crazy and you have the essence of Local Joints TV.”

By using video and a YouTube channel, Local Joints TV is bringing local businesses that provide fun, food and entertainment front and centre. Interviewing owners of fast food joints, restaurants, nightclubs and more, Darin gives you a real feel for the local businesses in his hometown of Salt Lake City, Utah.

From sit-down chats at a burger joint table, to going behind the scenes and seeing how a local specialty is made, Local Joints TV is the connector between traditional advertising and social media. Now, instead of wondering what a menu is like, or how a new restaurant’s ambiance fits in with your dinner needs, Darin’s show will give you that information and more.

This information is then shared via the YouTube channel, as well as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. Local Joints TV on Facebook in particular is pretty cool, with frequent giveaways, a Winners Wall and photo albums of the places featured and the people that make up their success.

But that’s just the start.

Local Business, Networked Customers

While Darin’s current focus with Local Joints TV is on the entertainment industry in his city, the idea can be scaled a lot further.

Franchises are one area that Darin’s looking at, and this opens up a wider picture for Local Joints TV and the concept of local advertising on a wider scale.

For example, say you’re traveling to a city and you need a review of some places to visit when there. While you could jump onto something like Yellow Pages or crowdsource your online network, what if you could jump onto a website that has video details of the venue?

Or, plan ahead and contact the Local Joints TV team that’s in the city you’re interested in. For a small fee you can get your own personalized review and recommendation – something that a local newspaper or radio ad can’t give you.

It’s this scope for expansion that makes something like Local Joints TV the ideal mix of physical interaction and online connections.

While it’s early days for Darin and Local Joints TV, it’s something that has a lot of potential. From the businesses it promotes at the minute to sponsorship opportunities (gas stations could be travel partners, electronic stores could provide the video equipment, etc), there’s a definite space for the approach Local Joints TV takes.

Mix in the opportunities that Foursquare could offer – follow Local Joints TV and check in while the show is being shot for special offers, for example – and you can start to see where the benefits for featured businesses would come.

What do you think of the Local Joints TV idea – could you see something like it used where you live?

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