In this post I’ll teach you the recruitment strategies that you must adopt in order to recruit your first few clan members in the easiest and most efficient manner.

If you have not done so, I recommend you read over my post ‘The Fundamental Skills Of A Clan Leader‘ before continuing, as there I explain the required skills that you must possess in order to become a good clan leader. Mastering these five skills is essential to seeing your clan succeed in the long term.

Your first few members

Recruiting your first few members and retaining them is going to be your first major hurdle as a new clan leader. It is important to understand that recruiting your first few members can be a difficult process, especially if you’re new to clan leadership. However, the good news is, is that once you recruit your first few members, the recruitment process becomes easier and you are able to be more picky with whom you select.

I will first cover a little theory of why your first few members are the most difficult to recruit. A newly created clan has no members other than yourself. In most cases it has no rank or standing, it is unheard of. Even with a website, forums and voice server, odds are that you will be the only one using any of these services. There is no “community” in your clan, therefore no real “incentive” for anyone to join it.

The trick is to create that “incentive”. Why would someone want to join a brand new clan that has nothing to offer? The answer to this question is the key to getting your first few members. This is the part that most new clans fail on – they do not give new members any reason to join their clan.

You need to create an incentive – the reason new members are going to join your clan is because you will be offering them advanced standing within the clan. By this, I mean that you’re going to be giving them instant authority within the clan above and beyond new members that you recruit later on.

You should appoint your first three to five members as Officers and give them recruitment privileges (if your game supports it).This gives you great advertising leeway for your initial recruitment campaign.

The first step is to login your game and go to an area that consists of a good mix of low to medium level players. You don’t want to target an area where everybody is already in a high ranking clan. Likewise, you don’t want an area that is full of newbies who will only be asking you incessant questions if they join your clan as an officer. Find an area that has a good balance of players. Just about every MMORPG has a city or outpost of some form.

Once you’ve found a good area to target, start sending a public message similar to the following (edit it accordingly depending upon the game you’re playing and the services you’re offering) -

“New clan (clan name) is recruiting its first three members as Officers! Clan is going to be highly competitive and PvP based. Have Vent server, website and forums. Message me for more info”.

You should paste your recruitment message often enough to get peoples attention however not too frequently in case it may be viewed as spam. You do NOT, under any circumstances, want to be labeled as a spammer as it can quickly lead to you being ignored by people who may have been potential members. As a general rule, I recommend you leave at least a 1 minute period in-between each recruitment message that you send.

Remember that you can’t afford to be too picky about who you accept. You should be willing to accept anyone that messages you provided that they are not a complete newbie to the game.

Say that you have sent out your message once a minute for twenty minutes, and finally you have someone that sends you a message that is interested in becoming an officer in your clan. Your goal is to get this person to start recruiting for you in other areas as an officer. Make this person aware that if they want to become an officer then they will need to do some recruiting for you, otherwise you will only recruit them as an ordinary member.

An example is as follows -

Somedude1: “Hi, im interested in joining ur clan”
You: “Ok great, if you want to become an officer you must help me recruit some new members, I’ll keep you as an officer permanently if you do, ok?”
Somedude1: “Ok sure”

In this scenario you would invite Somedude1 into your clan, make them an officer, and tell them to invite people as ordinary members. Do not tell your officers to recruit people as officers, that job should only be left to you at this stage.

Most of your new members will need prompting before they actually do anything. You should tell the newly recruited officer what message they should use to recruit in the public chat, an example is as follows -

You: “Someday1, could you please copy and paste something similar to the following message to recruit new members -”

“Join clan XYZ – an upcoming competitive PvP clan. Only 2 members at this stage however we are fast expanding. We have website, forums and vent servers – message me for info”.

A message similar to the above is what your clan officer(s) should be using to recruit new members.

You on the other hand should still be attempting to recruit more officers into the clan. You should keep recruiting officers (up to a maximum of 5) until you have at least 20 ordinary members.

The less officers you have the better, as shall be explained in a future post. You do not want a high influx of officers as it can detract from the professionalism of your clan. When you’re first starting out, it’s acceptable to have an equal ratio of officers to members for your first 5 or so members, however once you have 20 members this ratio should not exceed 1:4 (1 officer per 4 members). Limit the number of officers to five as an absolute maximum for your first 20 members. Two officers for your first 20 members is optimal if you can achieve it.

Keep in mind that since your clan is still new, you will notice a lot of your newly recruited members will leave unexpectedly. Do not be alarmed by this, as it is perfectly normal. Simply utilise your officers to recruit more members until you can reach a stable level of 20 members again. Always aim for your clan to have at least 20 members in it when you’re starting out.

You may notice that officers leave your clan or don’t recruit even though you’ve asked them to. Since your clan is still in its early stages feel free to remove/demote officers that aren’t doing their job and promote normal members who are willing to put in the effort to recruit. If there are no normal members willing to recruit then do another public recruitment campaign for clan officers. Always use your recruitment message to your advantage, listing the number of members in your clan. The more members you have the more appealing your message will be.

Forum recruitment

The next step after creating your clan is to make people aware of its existence. A new clan often acquires its first members by advertising itself. Having a private as opposed to a public recruitment option is fine later on once your clan establishes itself, however there’s nothing exclusive about a new clan. You must be prepared to recruit publicly, at least to begin with.

There is usually at least one forum, be it official or unofficial, for every MMO out there. You should register an account on any of the forums that are popular for the game you are playing. Most MMOs have forums on the Vault Network boards, located at http://vnboards.ign.com. You should register a free account there and create a post within the appropriate section advertising your clan. On whatever forums you create your post, your post should state your clan’s objectives, whether it has a website, forums, or a voice server, what you are looking for in new members and a little about the clan itself. Obviously if the clan is new then you won’t have too much to advertise, however you should still post something as it gives prospective members the chance to ask questions or join your clan. Even if you don’t get many replies, or any, at least there’s a record of your post on the boards for anyone that might be browsing through past posts. I’ve had it happen that people have replied to a recruitment thread that was over 6 months old.

Your recruitment post should sound professional, give new members incentive to join and be free of spelling and grammatical errors. The post should have a theme that reflects the type of clan you’re planning on running. If you’re running a PvP clan make the post specific and to the point. If you’re running a roleplaying clan then create a sense of adventure within your post.

The requirements that members must meet before they join your clan should depend upon how many members your clan already has and how well developed it is. If your clan has little to offer, or is low ranking in PvP, then demanding that members be of the highest skill level isn’t going to get you anywhere. You should lower your requirements when your clan has little to offer, and raise them when it becomes powerful.

The following is an example of what you may post when recruiting for a new PvP clan with only several members -

Post Title: New PvP clan looking to recruit dedicated gamers

“Hi there,

The Order of Swords is a newly created PvP guild based within the XYZ server. Found by a group of 5 serious PvPers, we are interested in raising this guild in the PvP ladder quickly and efficiently. Too many other PvP guilds fail due to a lack of organisation or in-depth knowledge of the game. We realise that in order to make ourselves competitive that teamwork and commitment are essential.

Currently we are not ranked on the ladder system, however once we recruit fifteen dedicated members then we shall train as an exceptionally well organised and powerful fighting force and raise ourselves up quickly.

If you are tired of the poor management of other guilds and are looking to be a part of a new guild which has the right goals in mind from the very beginning, then the Order of Swords is for you. We are looking for members of all levels and are willing to train you to become effective in PvP. Once we reach our desired goal of fifteen members we will be restricting membership to much higher levels, so if you’re new to the PvP scene then now is the best and only time to join a soon to be highly competitive PvP guild.

Higher ranked players are especially encouraged to join as Officer positions are still available for those willing to make the commitment. Be a part of something that will be remembered.

We have a Teamspeak/Ventrillo server, forums and website all setup and ready to go. Having Teamspeak/Ventrillo is compulsory. Registering at our forums is also compulsory for all members as we will frequently be posting new strategies as well as discussing existing ones.

Please send me a private message or reply to this thread with your level and gaming experience.

- Albert”

The following is an example of something simple you may post when recruiting for a roleplaying clan -

Post Title: Venture with the Knights of Candlekeep

“Greetings fellow adventurers,

The Knights of Candlekeep has convened and come to the decision to allow more fine Knights into our order.

We are a dedicated roleplaying guild based within the XYZ server that has only recently been created by a group of four fellow Knights. We’re looking to recruit members who are of a mature and courteous nature that wish to be a part of a new yet fast growing order. Our aim is not to recruit as many members as possible and run a massive guild of random players. We instead are looking to create a small to medium sized group of dedicated roleplayers that help one another when needed.

Prospective members should be willing to participate in roleplay when appropriate and not be too concerned about the endevours of PvP or farming. Whilst we may happily participate in PvP from time to time it is not our primary goal and if you are looking for a PvP guild then we are not for you.

What we do offer you however is the chance to be part of a group of like minded gamers who get along with one another and make the most of their gaming experience. We regularly help one another with missions and quests, provide assistance when we can and have guild gatherings to discuss the running of the guild. Most importantly of course we remain in character for the most part and embark upon many exciting adventures together.

If it’s a roleplaying guild you wish to join, then the Knights of Candlekeep is for you. We have our own website and forums and all members are encouraged to participate in roleplaying both in-game and at our forums.

Please reply here or send me a message with your in-game name if you wish to join. Alternatively feel free to check out our forums at http://fabulousknightsofcandlekeep.com.

My Thanks,
Rupert the Knight”

If your clan is not a PvP or roleplaying guild then your post should contain something detailing what it is you’re looking for in prospective members. If you’re only recruiting members from a certain country for example, make sure to mention this within your post as well as stating the benefits of playing with members from the same time zone.

As you start to receive replies from people interested in joining your clan, make sure to add them as quickly as possible. If you wish to make someone you recruit an officer, make sure to explain to them their obligations of recruiting new members themselves.

By following the in-game recruitment and forum recruitment strategies that I’ve explained above, you should be able to recruit your first 20 members with minimal effort on your part. Although your clan members will be quite new and prone to leaving, at least you’ve made the first major step in establishing your clan’s presence.