What is a rugged computer anyways? Know when you never get pulled over and have just seen from driving by the computers in the Police cruiser that runs all your information? Those are rugged computers. What makes them so rugged? The are military spec computers that you can drop from 6ft and nothing will break, you can drag them through mud while while chained to an ATV or drag them through the snow while chained to a snowmobile, cool right? Seem like something that can only be sold to one vertical? Wrong! You can’t market military grade computers on social media. Wrong!
Social Media is a great source for Rugged Computer companies because they can promote new products, jobs that they are working on (as long as the government agencies say it’s okay!), as well as tell them about updates going on in the company. Island Tech Services uses Facebook to connect with customers about updating them with the expansion of the company headquarters in NY and that they are moving to Ronkonkoma from Long Island. They also show photos of installations that they do.
On Instagram you can search for:
• #panasonictoughbook
• #toughbook
• #toughpad
Even with those three hashtags you’ll get to see all types of environments that the Panasonic Toughpad and Toughbooks can be used and go through! Instagram is a great tool for customers to show their products individually or show how they can be installed and set up! Another great thing that Instagram will help with is showing the trade-shows that the company is set up at and invite customers to come visit and take a “selfie” with the crew!
https://instagram.com/p/4Zy6YoyTJx/?tagged=panasonictoughbook
Facebook is the most popular social media tool that the Rugged Computer companies reach out to clients. Panasonic themselves as a company have 314,158 followers on their Facebook page to show all products, then you have Panasonic Toughbook Toughpad Facebook dedicated page that has 48,957 followers based on just those core products. The small company that I work for does not have a Facebook page but I wanted to look at our competitors and see how they ranked with Facebook followers:
•CDW in Illinois ~ 77,401 Followers
•MHQ in Massachusetts ~ 1,551 Followers
•Dell in Texas ~ 8,843,929 Followers
•Adamson Industries in Massachusetts ~ 766 Followers
Smaller based companies such as MHQ and Adamson Industries here in Massachusetts clearly don’t have as high of a following as well name larger companies like CDW and Dell who sell more than just rugged computers and police gear. If my company were to start a Facebook page I’m sure it would take a bit to get to higher numbers. Although an incentive to get higher numbers would be doing drawings and contests for our customers who “like” our Facebook.
Another social media platform that rugged computer companies use but is not as popular is Twitter. Here they send out links to other platforms to see a larger message or image than what is allowed in the Twitter field.
•CWD ~ 40,100 Followers
•MHQ ~ Does not have Twitter
•Dell 507,000 Followers
•Adamson Industries ~ 159 Followers
I think that the Rugged Computer world could do a whole lot on Pinterest. There are so many industries that could benefit from a rugged mobile computer whether it is a laptop or tablet. People or companies that use such products are retail companies, the food industry, public safety (police, fire, EMT), oil companies, delivery trucks, the list just goes on and if a company utilizes this platform they can show each type of vertical in photos and captions. Using the images to link out to pages with information on the what they images is about will help potential customers understand and will also help customers who never thought about going rugged see that it is something that relates to them.
Do you see your business going rugged? If so what kind of business are you? Let me know in the comments below!
cassandra kiley 
Fascinating! Cassandra! I’ve seen and heard of Toughbooks but, I had never actually known anyone who had owned or used one and wondered if this was more of a construction industry PC, or if they actually existed. Thank you for a very enlightening post!
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They are an awesome computer for any industry you just have to look past the pricing of them. Upfront they can be a bit expensive but offer you a minimum of 5-10 years of life out of them and thats in extreme conditions. A lot of Police, Government officials, Utility companies, Military and trucking companies have them because they are constantly inside and outside in snow/rain/wind/dust and they hold up to all of that. I’m glad you found the post informational!
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Hi Cassandra,
I found your blog to be very interesting. I didn’t actually know that the computers in police cars were any different. I guess I should have assumed they were heavy duty but this takes heavy duty to the next level. I also think you did a great job on explaining how social media can be used to sell the devices and showing how much interest there already is in the product. While I may not need a device quite as indestructible as this one I am often left wishing I had something a little tougher for work. I can’t tell you how many times things get dropped or run over while I run around campus. It seems to me like these could be used in many more applications than just government!
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I’m glad you found this entry interesting! I had no idea either that police laptops were any different than the ones we use daily, until I started my current job. I use a Toughbook at home (company supplied one) and it’s great with my 2 dogs who constantly are walking over it, they have spilled drinks on it and NOTHING and I mean nothing happens to it! They re on the expensive side and if I didn’t have it through work I probably wouldn’t have one but now that I’ve seen how they hold up it would be something I’d look into because the stuff they go through would kill my HP laptop in seconds!
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I had no clue these types of computers even excited until this post! It just goes to show you social media can benefit any type of brand. I am very curious if these computers are used by construction companies as well as field repair workers. These computers would be perfect for those industries because often times these jobs are pretty labor intensive. By having these computers on site or in the field, data may be able to be shared and stored more defiantly. Awesome article!
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Hi Garrett!
We do market to construction customers and building facilities management companies! A few months ago we actually did a tradeshow in Boston based off these types of companies and we were the only computer company that supplies these types there! People who love them are defiantly field workers because the screens can be daylight readable and in the winter can be used with gloves so that their hands don’t freeze out in blizzard like conditions!
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I was aware of the rugged computers because we have many law enforcement officers in our family. However I had no idea who made them or what other types of companies or services would utilize them. These would be a great addition to the construction job site. I work for a company where we take care of digital documents for general contractors and they use i Pads and tablets out in the field. The tough pad sounds like a product that could be used by our clients.
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We have all kinds of work fields that use these types of computers, and honestly I had no idea about any of it before I started at my company. I’d be happy to give you any information on these units if you’d want! I don’t have my companies name on here any where because since this is not directly used for my work I did not want to have it keep linking back to them until we actually get our on Social Media out there!
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