Keeping your faction active - any tips?

[Amaterasu]

This question goes out to all you faction members out there, especially to the leaders, and is an open invitation to everyone to discuss.

Let me preface this by admitting openly that I am probably going to use what information you're willing to share, to improve Heaven and Earth, or whatever other faction I may participate in/lead in the future. So... don't share anything you're not comfortable with having copycatted :frogpipe:

What is it that you do with your faction that is keeping it going and active? Or if you're a member, is there anything you do from your non-leading position to help keep the faction alive?

Sample questions:
-What would you say is the most "important" part of the faction's setup to get people interested? Proper goals, an awesome logo, a roster of "celebrity" characters with well-known players (e.g. Alex, Shawn, Sammy, Kelsie...), something entirely different?
-Do you keep people interested with fresh quests and events?
-Do you organize in-house events like jousting tournaments or summer vacations? Or more serious storylines to keep people engaged?
-What about your faction forums? Do(es) your faction(s) have a lot of activity in them? (this is not a request to reveal information from them, the faction forums are private for a reason!)
-For those with "canonical" factions (looking at you, Thieves Guild and Avengers), does it help that you picked something existing rather than inventing your own faction name?
-How do you manage the PR to get people's attention without annoying anyone (both IC and OOC)?
-How much time would you say are you investing into faction stuff?
-Is there a "secret trick" to it? Something that has to click and everything will flow nicely?


This also extends to anyone who may have led guilds in MMOs or similar games before, though obviously the sample questions don't really apply!