Safaricom - 2021 Sustainable Business Report

88 SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2021 / STANDING TOGETHER: GOING BEYOND / OUR MATERIAL TOPICS //// OUR STAKEHOLDERS / KPI SUMMARY MEDIA MAINTAINING OPEN DIALOGUE We engage in close dialogue with members of local, regional and international media across electronic channels (radio, TV), print (newspapers, magazines) and new media (digital, websites and blogs). Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, most one-on-one media engagements were cancelled. This changed how we interacted with the media, particularly sports and entertainments journalists, as events were minimised to combat the spread of the virus. However, we managed to keep dialogue channels open using digital forms of communication and involving the media when making major announcements, such as the half year results announcement in November 2020. We also distributed branded promotional items to regional media to foster brand awareness and enhance loyalty. We maintain a positive working relationship to ensure that our voice is heard on pertinent issues and that the facts presented to the public are as comprehensive and objective as possible. With fake news on the rise, we worked closely with fact checking partners in Kenya. This proved particularly helpful in clarifying our own official promotions and ensured that information presented to our stakeholders was accurate and balanced. In keeping with this aim, in February 2021, we hosted 16 court reporters with a view to enhancing their court reporting during COVID-19, further understanding their challenges and how Safaricom could support them. Media attention on Safaricom is highlighted by the fact that the launch of the pilot phase of our 5G high-speed internet media launch in March 2021 was featured on the front page of Kenyan newspapers, resulting in a total of 637 stories, including 482 stories featured on websites outside Kenya, besides the 83 carried on Kenyan websites. We were also pleased by the positive improvement in website performance. Since we embarked on a search engine optimisation (SEO) programme a year ago, there have been the following increases: 40.30% in total traffic, 54.88% in sessions and 80.20% in page views. SAFARICOM SUSTAINABILITY MENTIONS IN THE MEDIA (FY21) Media Type M-PESA Foundation Safaricom Foundation / Ndoto Zetu Sustainable business* Print 27 115 32 TV 46 159 30 Radio 165 513 73 Online 91 384 136 Total number 329 1 171 271 PR value  (KSh) 141 787 620 711 477 885 98 806 935 * Includes 131 articles in October when we launched the Sustainable Business Report and announced our support for the informal sector in e-waste management. WEBSITE PERFORMANCE YEAR-ON-YEAR 2020 2021 Total users 524 544 783 134 Sessions 714 511 1 106 644 Bounce rate* 27.59% 23.04% Average session duration 1 min 28 sec 1 min 29 sec Page views 1 183 813 2 133 177 Average page load time 12.71 11.39 Clicks 434 000 490 000 Impressions 3 710 000 4 990 000 Average website position** 11.9 9.1 * The percentage of all sessions on the site in which users viewed only a single page and triggered only a single request to the Analytics server * The average ranking of a website URL for the query/ queries OUR HIGHLIGHTS • Launched the 9th Safaricom Sustainable Business Report and the Sustainable Future thought leadership series to the media simultaneously. The thought leadership series aims to bring business leaders together the discuss a way forward in tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time including climate change, gender, inequality and ecosystem degradation. During the Sustainable Business Report launch, we had 557 total mentions from 213 unique authors in the #SustainableSafaricom conversation. ISSUES FOR MEDIA • One-on-one physical engagements are always preferred for better and quicker feedback. Journalists have expressed concerns about the webinar format which does not give them opportunities to ask questions as they would traditionally do during a physical media engagement. • Press conferences on Zoom have also been a source of frustration, because journalists need data to dial in and they do not always have the resources to do so.