If these are the questions that you are asking yourself, this thread might help you out.
1. Clan Name
When you are starting a clan, you need to decide clan's name. The name is the first thing that people see and therefore it is very important. If I were you, I would try to think of an original, antistereotypical name. Most clans in all games have boring names such as "Super Omega Snipers", "Elite Force", "Veteran Slayers" and similar. Names similar to these are boring and you are not the first one that came up with, so avoid repetitious names. Take your time, think of a something original and go with it. Clan tag is something that you can work with later after you have chosen a name.
2. Place of residence
Where will you maintain your clan? There are many options such as your own PHPBB forums, Enjin site, Minit clan sections and many others, but my recommendation is b&s thread. Simply open a thread in this forum and maintain your clan. It is good for a start and you can go along with it when you grow, but if it doesn't satisfy your needs, you can always migrate to your own forums/site.
3. Thread organization
If you listened to my advice, you will most probably open up a thread here, so lets start with it. I would recommend that you write a thread in a text editing software such as notepad if you are familiar with BB code. If you don't know what it is, then you should write it all on the forums (without posting it while it is in stage of development obviously). Briefly, BB code allows you to bold, underline your text, and it has many other different options. Remember, writing thread will take a lots of your time. Be ready to sacrifice it, the more time you put in it, the better results will be. In the title of the thread you should put the name of your clan and/or tag. Its all up to you, just make it clear so people know what they are about to read. If your clan is named Purple Onion and the tag is [PO], your title can be something similar to:
Title wrote:[PO] - Purple Onion ClanTitles such as:
Title wrote:[PO] JOIN US NOW!!!!!!!?!
are annoying and repulsive. Now, the most important thing is the core of your thread. Before you start writing, you should visualise what you wish to write, try to see an index of your thread, main chapters. Most important "chapters" are:
- • General Info - Here you should write about your clan (or about yourself if you wish to), your goals and what type of clan it is. Most clans these days are competetive, meaning their goal is to play many clan matches. Try to interest people with this chapter, it may be the most important one so again, take your time to write it. Your goals and you as a person are the most important factors for your clan's future.
• Recruitment Policy - Recruitment policy is an assemblage of rules and filters that will allow certain people to join your clan. Here you should apply your personal clan rules (for example: be nice to everyone) and your own vision of people that you want to be in your clan. Recruiting and activity are the 2 most important factors for your clan to survive. Take your time to write it and be clear with what you like/want and don't like. Explain people how they should apply and provide a format for it.
• Ranks/Roster - In this chapter you should list all of your members and their belonging rank. Your clan may or may not have ranks. You yourself are the leader, and others are members. Hierarchy is something that varies from clan to clan, so it is all about you. Remember, keep a reasonable amount of ranks, preferably up to 5-6. More than that would most probably be too much.
• Matches and Events - Events are an activity boosters (Clan matches, meetings, etc.) and make sure that you organise them. You can use this chapter to list and track upcoming events, matches policy and matches history.
• Contacts - Make sure that you list all available mediums that you use, such as IRC channel, Skype groupchat, Facebook page, e-mail and similar.
4. Clan Management
To manage your clan properly, you have to be selfconfident and decisive. If you start something, stick to it and follow your own rules and goals. I have mentioned recruitment policy, so I will rant about it a little bit more. As I have said, you need to filter people that get into your clan. People in your clan give an image of your clan and they are the most essential parts of it, so be careful with it. In the beginning you might crave for someone to apply and hesitate to accept that person, but I always recommend that you should do background checks on that person. Check his clan history, whether he/she was banned, how he/she acts and similar. After you gather many info, go ahead and make a decision about that person, accept/decline him/her. Also, avoid clan hoppers (people that change clans blazingly fast). They will ruin the reputation that you may have and they will leave your clan most probably again, blazingly fast. They are not welcome in any clan, so keep up relatively high standards. Second thing that is essential is your activity. Maintaining clan activity isn't an easy job. It will take your time and nerves to keep it these days. Remember, people won't do things unless you remind them to do so 12345 times (to attend a match/meeting, help you out and similar stuff). Find a good way to communicate with your members, especially if they are in different, far away time zones. If some of your members gets inactive for a long period of time without announcing it, don't hesitate to kick him/her. Show people that activity is a must. One more thing, don't give up easily even though you don't see results really quick. Patience and persistence are the keys to success.
5. Promotion & Integration
You may be a good leader with a decent clan, but promoting your clan is also essential. By saying promotion, I don't mean yelling and spamming about your clan around. Right type of promotion is to integrate your clan with the community and presenting your clan on a unobtrusive way. To integrate, you may want to use an IRC Channel. If you don't know what IRC is, please read this. There you can read some basics (notice: this is SPQR IRC guide written by Kodiak, channel for buildandshoot is #buildandshoot instead of #SPQR). To find out how to create your own channel for your clan, ask someone in #buildandshoot IRC. After you have done that, invite people into your channel and chat with them. You can also organize many various events and matches (for example [yourclan] vs. Forums). Use forums, signatures, IRC and similar tools to help you introduce your clan to the community. If your clan was able to survive for some certain amount of time (3-4 months) it will be noticed a little bit just regarding the fact that it survived.
6. Conclusion
Purpose of this thread was to help you guys out there, hopefully you have learned something new. Just be dedicated and really into leading a clan and I am sure that you will do fine.
Patience is the key, take your time.
7. Other Helpful Links
Why Clans FAIL and What YOU Can Do To Prevent That, written by USABxBOOYO