It depends on how you want to go, you could get recognised for some great RP, or from robbing / shooting people, or maybe a bit of both. Personally, I like to just create RP situations and see where it goes, whilst trying to involve as many people as possible.
The more you RP and interact with people, and especially if they have a good time, or you make them laugh (hell, even if they have a bad time) you'll get recognised.
As for getting people into the gang, making it clear that your recruiting is a simple start, but I've always preferred directly recruiting people in RP on the server itself. For example, just had a great piece of RP with someone in-game? If they don't have a gang, why not ask them to join you?
It takes time to build up a good bunch of people to play with, and to also built up a reputation and get recognised, but if you keep working hard, you'll get there!
