What is the benefit of joining a clan?

You don't get anything extra materially from being in a clan that you don't get from random squadding (extra gold for those first three squad wins every day). What you do get, if you can find the right clan, is a good sense of camaraderie, usually regular squad mates, sharing of ideas and suggestions, and even more coordinated game play, especially if they use a comm like Discord. Even with a good clan, though, unless they're highly organized and tightly ruled, it's not always easy getting a squad together -- just something that happens with groups of geographically diverse individuals. But it also takes time to find the right one. Some players want that strong organization and strict rules, some like a more casual group. Lots of things go into landing in the right group. I lost count of the ones I tried before I found the one I'm in. Player levels, personalities, even cultures vary.

My clan uses Discord, but I'm not on it much. Even so, the big benefit is that they're all just good players who you know you can count on, and they can count on you. All those things you cuss at the randoms about, good clan mates usually don't do. Don't be afraid to try them out and just leave if it's not right for you -- you're in it to have fun, after all.