How a School District Reached 7x More Candidates per Dollar with Video

THE CHALLENGE

As of writing this, the average teacher retention rate in the U.S. is roughly 77% across public and private schools, meaning about 23% of teachers leave their school annually, either to go to another school or to leave the profession. So, it is no surprise that school districts are always competing for the same pool of qualified and passionate teachers who align closest to their values and want to stick around.

For Hendry County School District (HCSD), the question was clear: how can our digital advertising stand out enough to make the best teachers stop scrolling, pay attention, and actually submit an application? And how do you do it without overspending on a limited budget?

HCSD needed a way to break through. We at PTE knew that if the goal was to reach, engage, and inspire future teachers, the answer wasn’t just static graphics and a “spray and pray” messaging strategy—it was video combined with hyper-focused targeting and compelling messaging.

THE STRATEGY

We chose to center video content in HCSD’s digital recruitment advertising strategy. But it wasn’t just about using video—it was about making it watchable and interesting. Meta’s own data shows that about 65% of viewers who watch the first 3 seconds continue to watch up to 10 seconds, and approximately 45% watch as long as 30 seconds. With this in mind, we leaned into short, 30-second videos designed to spark curiosity and connect emotionally with prospective teachers. That gave us enough time to tell the story of what teaching at HCSD is like, detail the benefits, share testimonials, etc., while keeping the content digestible and aligned with how people actually consume media.

Targeting was equally intentional. Instead of casting a wide net, we focused on people most likely to consider teaching opportunities—those with education-related job titles, interests in teacher training, and career development signals. We also used Meta’s advanced tools to geo-target educators and build “lookalike” audiences based on top ad engagers and website visitors, especially those who interacted with conversion triggers like application form submissions and key landing page clicks.

THE RESULTS

Over a five-month period, social media video ads focused on recruiting new teachers produced the following results:

• At the start of the following school year, District leadership indicated they had the fewest teacher vacancies in their memory and cited this campaign (combined with organic social and community relations efforts by PTE) as the reason why.

• Video recruitment ads generated an average cost per click that was 86% below the industry average: HCSD reached nearly seven times more candidates per dollar than others in the education sector do.

• Of the almost 190,000 video plays, 37% watched at least half the videos: Over 70,000 people in the geo-fenced area with relevant interests and qualifications engaged meaningfully with the message, signaling true interest rather than casual scrolling.
  
• The ads generated a click-through rate (the percentage of impressions where a click occurred) nearly five times greater than the industry average, proving that they didn’t just get seen—they compelled action.
  
• At an average of only a couple of cents per Thruplay (the cost per video view to 15 seconds or completion), HCSD paid half (or less than half) of the industry average, maximizing the budget while building a deeper, more meaningful level of engagement.

WHY IT MATTERS

Recruitment is ultimately about action, not impressions. By making video the backbone of HCSD’s social media advertising strategy and pairing it with advanced targeting, we turned passive awareness into measurable engagement and intent – and meaningful results for the District. 

The correlation was clear: video not only reached more people, it drove more qualified interest at a fraction of the cost.

At PTE, this case reinforces what we see across industries: when the goal is to inspire action with the right audience, video isn’t optional—it’s essential.