How to promote your FC and recruit?

[NekoNova]

Hello,

I'm looking for some tips and tricks from other Free Companies....

Me and a friend started our own FC 2 days ago, and with the help of a few kind strangers on our server we actually succeeded on forming the Free Company.
However, at the moment it's just the 2 of us :/

I've written several recruitment posts on Reddit, sub forum and a few other forums, and I have this recruitment macro I use when entering zones.
But, I'm wondering if there's more I can do?

I currently have the feeling I'm more annoying then anything else as I don't see any changes. Then again i might just be impatient :/

[Serilda]

I would personally never join a FC which spammed advertisements in chat channels as it looks desperate and disruptive (likewise those who whisper me out of the blue - no thanks). Writing posts like you've been doing is a good idea for putting the word out where people looking for a FC might actually find it without it being forced on them.

On my server the FCs with open recruitment set up party finders with an explanation of what people can expect if they join, and that's not disruptive at all so I don't mind it. Aside from that the hardest (and unfortunately, best) way to get good quality members is to invite people you have actually met and played with, whether newbies you've helped out or older players looking for a better Company.

[NekoNova]

Ooh party finder sounds like something worth trying.
Will give that a go tonight, and see if something comes out of it.

I definitely share the sentiment of using the recruitment macro. And I think I will just abandon it for now.
I find it annoying myself, so not sure why I even did it :/

[Taika]

I think it's important to know what your FC is about and then to relay that message clearly to the people you're looking to recruit. Are you focusing on endgame activities and playing together as a FC group, or are you a place where people can just chat while they're doing content alone? What do you wish from your members and what are you able to (or planning to) offer to your members? Why should people join you instead of the other FCs available out there? Basically, first make sure you know what your FC is about and who are you looking to join you, and then try to aim your message to that target group. Good luck!

[Serilda]

I'm sure you'll find some people soon, good luck! If you have access to the mentor channel (either as a sprout or a mentor) you could always get talking to some of the newer players and casually ask them to join if anyone expresses a desire for a company, perhaps after helping them with some activity they need so you can get a feel for their personality (and they yours). I wouldn't ever spam an advertisement in the channel, but new players are often looking for friends they can team up with. Just beware the new players who are actually alts as they probably don't want bombarding with invitations to things

[NekoNova]

I'm sure you'll find some people soon, good luck! If you have access to the mentor channel (either as a sprout or a mentor) you could always get talking to some of the newer players and casually ask them to join if anyone expresses a desire for a company, perhaps after helping them with some activity they need so you can get a feel for their personality (and they yours). I wouldn't ever spam an advertisement in the channel, but new players are often looking for friends they can team up with. Just beware the new players who are actually alts as they probably don't want bombarding with invitations to things

Ah right.
I think I need to ask a mentor to add me to the channel then, but that might definitely be worth trying I suppose.
But yeah often it's hard to distinguish alts from new players

[Martin_Arcainess]

Shouting in zones I'd say is fine as I've got many members that way myself but what you put in the shout really would determine the effect it gives.
Keep short and sweet. Limit it to what 1 macro can hold on 1 line. I use that as a limit.

I've seen FC shouts which was quite like,

FC recruiter: FC etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
FC recruiter: FC etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
FC recruiter: FC etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
FC recruiter: FC etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
FC recruiter: FC etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

The first and second line of Text I can't see since he put so much of it and really you wouldn't want to scroll up to see it.

Also careful not to spam in 1 area too much Go around and different zones. And if you want new players try recruiting in low level areas.

[NekoNova]

Good points.
My macro is limited to a single line right now.
It just gives the name, what we focus on and our URL plus the /tell me.
And I only do it once per zone so I hope I'm not too annoying with it.

[Teppie]

I just woke up about 5 minutes ago, so let me ramble to you on this tiny cell phone screen before I gotta wake up officially, someone else can tell me if I'm full of it or not.

First off, you always want to be wary of open recruitment to some degree, you want to make sure your members are solid, and they're not just your random FC-Less vagrants for a reason. There's a story behind why each and everyone isn't in one, and it's important you know at least loosely why. Maybe they're a drama queen, maybe they were on the bad side of gossip, maybe they stole shit, maybe they just didn't want to play a MMO and wanted to go solo and finally got lonely enough to reassimilate with the majority population. Asking a few preliminary questions now always saves you heartache later.

Also, spamming recruitment, a lot of solid would-be members see the shout messages as a spam FC, anyone who knows how to send a tell gets an invite. Your best members, are almost always going to come through word of mouth.

In fact, in our FC we have closed recruitment, the only people that we send invites to are those who were suggested by an already member, and to those who aren't we simply say "Hey just hang out with us for a while, we'll know if it's a fit in a couple weeks."

The way we get members, is word of mouth through our FC members, OR by hosting community events. We're -always- hosting some event or another which are open to the server, and we're just showing the world "Hey look at us at <Tepe> you guys can do you all you want, but we're having a blast! You can join the party or not!"

Also as a sidenote, it's always a good idea to have a focus, a dedicated objective in mind. When I ask people what their FC does, and they say "Oh we do RP/Casual/Hardcore/Pvp/End-Game Raiding/Crafting/Athousandotherthings" it's like "Oh so you're just a social FC, because any dedicated FC isn't going to really cater to that many audiences, because it can't. A lot of those communities don't even cross over.

More thoughts, get involved in the community, get known as an FC leader. It's not enough to have a closed group of like-minded individuals, you gotta get yourself out there! That's where having a dedicated focus comes in too, join those mid-sized linkshells and get to know people. If say you're into end-game raiding, and just getting into the scene and need members. You put yourself out there some person might have some friend also getting into the game that doesn't want to join an established raiding group because she'll get pushed aside as a benchwarmer. Then next thing you'll know you'll get a PM saying "Hey, my friend told me you're recruiting for your FC/Static?" then that's perfect!

[Communion]

After ALL THESE YEARS that FFXIV does not have an in-game FC Recruitment window is UNACCEPTABLE.

The awful Fellowship Finder is NOT the same thing.