How to Create Social Media Mockups for Presentations, Lessons and Pitches

A social media mockup is a picture of a post, comment or notification as it would look inside an app, filled with content you made up. People use them to show an idea before it exists: a campaign concept in a pitch deck, an example post in a lesson, a feature in a product demo. The quickest route to a good one is to decide what the slide needs to say, build a single post that says it, and make sure people at the back of the room can read it.

This guide is about mockups for presentations, teaching and pitches. If you need posts and screens for a film or TV scene, our guide to social media posts for film and TV covers clearance and on-set details.

What a mockup is (and isn’t)

A real post is published from a real account and belongs to it. A mockup is an illustration of a post that was never published. That difference matters more than it sounds: a mockup is fine as long as everyone understands it’s an example, and a problem the moment someone could mistake it for something a real person or brand actually posted.

Who uses them, and for what:

• Marketers and agencies show a client what a campaign could look like in the feed before anything is shot or paid for.
• Designers and product teams show how a feature, a share card or a notification will appear on a phone.
• Teachers use invented posts to teach online safety, media literacy or persuasive writing without pointing at real people.
• Students use them in projects, for example a historical figure’s imagined feed or a campaign for a fictional charity.
• Video creators and filmmakers use them as cutaways and story beats.

Start with the point of the slide

The most common mistake happens before you open any tool: making a mockup because a slide feels empty. Every mockup should carry one idea. Work out the idea first, then choose the smallest mockup that shows it.

Building a post

A believable post is mostly about proportion. The parts that need attention are the account, the image, the first line of the caption and the numbers.

• The image. Use the actual campaign photo or a draft of it if you have one. If you don’t, a placeholder is honest and keeps attention on the idea; a random stock photo can make the client argue about the photo instead.
• The first line of the caption. In the feed, long captions are cut after a line or two, so the opening line is the one people read. Write it as if nothing else will be seen.
• The numbers. Likes, comments and shares should fit the account. A neighbourhood bakery with 40,000 likes on a post about bread makes the whole concept feel less credible. When in doubt, go modest.
• Labels that are part of the idea. If you’re pitching a paid post, show the “Sponsored” label. It’s part of how the ad will really appear, and leaving it off quietly oversells the concept.

Comments and replies

Comments are useful when the point of the slide is a reaction: how the audience might respond to a campaign, how a brand should answer a question, or what a pile-on looks like in a lesson about online behaviour.

Keep it to a few comments and let them sound like different people. One is a question, one is a joke, one is a single emoji. Real comment sections are uneven: some comments get dozens of likes, most get none. A reply from the account shows tone of voice better than any bullet point on the slide. The Instagram-style comment generator handles replies, likes and pinned comments; for video-led formats, see our guide to comment screenshots.

Notifications

A notification is the right mockup when your idea is about timing: a reminder that arrives at the right moment, a message that interrupts something, a feature that brings people back to an app. Lock screens cut notification text short, so write the copy at the length it will actually show. Our guide to phone notification mockups goes into truncation and the differences between iPhone and Android.

Account names and profiles

If several slides show the same account, treat it like a character. Pick a name, a handle and a profile picture and keep them identical everywhere. Then search the handle on the platform: if a real account already uses it, change yours. A made-up handle that turns out to belong to someone else is an easy way to drag a stranger into your presentation.

• ✓Invented name and handle, searched to make sure no real account uses it.
• ✓Profile picture you made or have the rights to; no real person’s face without permission.
• ✓No verified badge on an account that could be confused with a real brand or person.
• ✓The same details on every slide, so the audience follows one account, not five slightly different ones.

Making it readable on a slide

Phone screens are tall and slides are wide, which leaves a lot of empty space and makes the text small. A few habits fix most of it:

• Export at slide size. The Presentation slide size (1920 × 1080) puts the phone on a 16:9 background. If your deck has its own design, export with a transparent background instead and place the phone next to your text.
• Show less. One post, or two side by side for a comparison. Three phones on one slide usually means none of them can be read.
• Annotate outside the phone. Put your arrows and labels on the slide around the mockup. Writing on top of the post makes it look edited and hides the thing you’re pointing at.
• Check it projected. Light grey text and thin fonts fade on many projectors. If you can, preview the slide on the screen you’ll present on, or switch the mockup to dark mode.

For moving examples in a video presentation, a vertical video with the mockup appearing step by step can work better than a still. The same rules on readable text apply.

Mockups in lessons

Invented posts are especially useful in teaching because they let you show something problematic without pointing at a real person. A fictional giveaway scam, for instance, makes a good discussion starter for an online safety lesson:

Students might spot the urgency (“only 2 hours left”), the request for card details, the odd handle with “official2” in it, and the very low engagement for an account supposedly giving away fifty phones. None of those proves a post is a scam on its own, which is a useful point to discuss too. If the lesson is about screenshots rather than posts, our guide on how to tell if a screenshot is fake pairs well with it.

Common mistakes

• Placeholder text left in. Lorem ipsum in a caption tells the client nobody has thought about the words yet. Write a real first line, even a rough one.
• Mixed platform details. An Instagram-style post with a retweet count, or a LinkedIn-style post with Stories rings. Each app has its own vocabulary; stick to one per mockup.
• Real brands and people. Putting a real company’s logo or a real person’s photo on an invented post suggests they said something they never said.
• Numbers that don’t fit. Huge metrics on a small account, or a “1 minute ago” post with thousands of comments.
• Too much on one slide. If you need a laser pointer to show which phone you mean, split the slide.

Looking like an app without claiming to be one

Mockups work because they look familiar. That familiarity shouldn’t turn into a suggestion that a platform made, endorsed or is involved in your idea. Mocknex layouts are our own recreations of each app’s general style and don’t use official logos, and Mocknex isn’t affiliated with any of the platforms whose styles it references. If you need a platform’s official logo in a deck, most major platforms publish brand guidelines explaining how it may be used.

When a deck or worksheet might travel beyond the room, add a small “concept” or “fictional example” label next to the mockup. It costs nothing and stops a screenshot of your slide from being mistaken for a real post later.

Make one in Mocknex

1. Open the Instagram-style post generator (or the LinkedIn-style and X-style versions for a cross-platform comparison).
2. Set the account name, handle and profile picture, then upload your image or keep the placeholder.
3. Write the caption, starting with the line you most want read, and set modest metrics.
4. Turn on labels that belong to the idea, such as “Sponsored”, and switch to dark mode if your slides are dark.
5. Export with the Presentation slide size or a transparent background. For reactions or reminders, repeat with the comment generator or the notification generator.

Everything runs in your browser, so an unreleased campaign or a client’s draft copy isn’t uploaded anywhere. You can browse the rest of the social media mockup tools for stories, threads and other formats.

FAQ

Can I put a real post from a brand into my presentation instead?

Screenshots of real posts are often shown when the point is commentary or teaching, but the rules depend on where you are and how the deck will be used, so check your organisation’s guidance. Credit the account and don’t edit the post. If you need to change the wording, that’s exactly when a fictional mockup is the better choice.

What size should I export for slides?

1920 × 1080 (16:9) fits most slide software. If your template isn’t 16:9, export a transparent PNG of the phone and size it on the slide.

Do I need to say it’s a mockup?

In the room, it’s usually obvious from context. If the slides will be shared, emailed or posted, add a short “concept” or “fictional example” label so the mockup still makes sense without you there to explain it.