With its bottomless amount of information and endless connections through social media, the Internet has forever changed business and enabled new businesses that would not have existed 30 years ago to sprout up. Three such local companies shared their best practices on Tuesday at the Greater Wilmington Business Journal’s Power Breakfast during a talk entitled “The Internet Economy.”

“Our competition is Bank of America and Wells Fargo. And, I don’t have socks on,” said Jimmy Mahan IV, director of marketing for Live Oak Bank to the audience of about 400 business community members at the Wilmington Convention Center. Live Oak Bank is ranked third in the country among SBA lenders and utilizes Facebook and its Youtube channel to engage its niche clientele of veterinarians, dentists, funeral directors and independent pharmacists. This year, it expects to lend between $350 million and $400 million, according to previous reporting in the Greater Wilmington Business Journal.

President and CEO of Mojo Musical Supply Michael McWhorter advised fellow business owners to provide valuable information on their websites, thereby becoming the go-to source or expert in their industry. He launched a separate website with schematics of vintage amps and guitars that links to his online store connecting musicians, enthusiasts and top musical manufacturers to locally made products.

“You want to be a destination on Google, not a pit stop,” said Robert Preville, who developed the code for social trade network IndustryPigeon.com and business-to-business e-commerce company GlobalTestSupply.com, which he sold last June.

To test his site’s usability for his clients, McWhorter had his mom navigate the site and purchase a few items.

“If we knew the psyche of this community, we could service this community,” Mahan said about veterinarians, who were the initial target for Live Oak. He used Google maps to show the FDIC how veterinarian practices follow the similar models across the country, therefore proving that Live Oak knew how to finance veterinary practices despite their varied locations.

Preville also advised that websites be user-friendly and targeted for clients but cautioned against blindly pushing out information without a plan.

“Engagement is not advertising,” said Preville, who emphasized the importance of building a relationship with clients and their community. “People would rather do business with people who are referred by someone they know than a marketing message.”

Mahan advised to be patient because social media takes time to cultivate. Keep updating posts and make sure you don’t have stale content on your website, he said.

McWhorter said to look at your website’s results daily, analyze traffic, measure bounce rates and keep improving it.

The next Power Breakfast event is tentatively scheduled for September.